Poking through various websites for a school project really got me thinking about their architecture. After reading through the audit I’ve come to learn some rather valid points about websites and their layouts, such as simplicity, knowing one’s location etc.
I’ve also come to realize how hard it is to botch up a website, unless the appearance and content does not honor the product or that which the site is about. Out of the 5 sites I peeked at I have come to conclude that the strongest site was Second Cup; ironically, I’ve been told the coffee company is also going bankrupt.
Some would say that the sites appearance is cliche, but you know what, from looking at the colour scheme and images, it simply SCREAMS “coffee”. Going through the site and seeing all their products would make anyone who was into coffee want to try some of the stuff. Heck, I don’t drink coffee and I wanted to try tasting some of them.
Second Cup screenshot
On the other hand Starbucks, the most successful coffee company that I know of, had the weakest site in my opinion. You don’t even see coffee on the home page, in fact the logo itself is only seen tucked away in the upper corner. It had all this advertising for charity about it. I actually had to go hunting for the product in the site. It did have everything, information of the company, news, you can even order coffee.
Starbucks screenshot
I asked my instructor about the Starbucks site and he simply told me their methods. They’re already the biggest fish in the pond, they already know people are eating our of the palm of their hand. Now they simply have to make them look less monopolizing with all these charity videos and what not on their site. Really clever…
4 Comments
I would agree that second cup website screams COFFEE! but to me it screams a bad cup of coffee. It looked way too tim horton’s ish to me, and i think thats exactly what second cup is trying to get away from.
You may have a point there, having your own opinion reflected or dependent on another identity is certainly a weakness. It’s imagery undoubtedly makes Tim Horton’s cross the mind of the viewer. The fact the company is also Canadian based like Tim Horton’s would certainly lead to trouble as well. A point well risen.
Interesting about Starbucks, hey? I often take notice on how they are marketing their products: they don’t! I don’t think I have EVER seen an ad for Starbucks in any sort of media. A cool, cool company in the way they portray themselves. I think they are going to be written into history as one of the most successful companies of our time.
j*
Ha! ha! you make them sound like they change the world, and you know what? you’re probably not too far off the mark. They help each person who drinks their coffee’s day, one person at a time. Naturally it has grown to a point where enough people are sucked in that the company doesn’t need to broadcast their product. Rather interesting.