writing sample no. 1 - business

[Excerpted from a Usability Analysis conducted for a consulting firm]

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Example 1

Designers and focus groups agree – the Yahoo.com style web portal with absolutely everything linked on the front page is unfriendly. Users attempting to access the site are overwhelmed by all the information presented up front; what people tend to prefer is to have presented to them a short list of major categories to navigate, linking to sub-categories. This can be implemented in a variety of ways – form data dropdown menus, Javascript or CSS flyouts, etc. – but the important thing is to allow the user to take in information in stages.

Aesthetically speaking, the use of fonts, images, and colors on this site is extremely bland and generic looking. Users have a surprisingly sophisticated sense of look/feel and will lose interest in a site that doesn’t stand out in some way visually. Even a very minimal design can have more impact with less real estate taken up on the page. At the very least, the logo needs to be redesigned for more brand identification, for instance with a proprietary font with some effect other than a drop shadow.

Finally, the choice to put the link to the inquiry form in gray font underneath the logo, without any visual or textual hooks to attract attention, almost guarantees that no users will access it.

Example 2

This site has a very low level of usability. The look/feel is reminiscent of the experience of reading the classified ads or a phone book; there’s no sense of interactivity to draw in the user. It actually resembles the kind of spammer website one gets redirected to when a URL is typed incorrectly. If I were a prospective student I would pass this site up at a single glance – nothing available here is superior to a simple Google search.

Example 3

This page is vastly superior and much more professionally designed than either of the ones descried above. Its interface is logical, broken down into categories, and highlighted by excellent use of image, layout, color and font – while similar in some ways to the color and font choices of the first web site, there are subtle yet powerful differences. The yellows contain more orange and therefore more warmth and contrast; the blues are richer and balance the yellows more forcefully. The photograph isn’t randomly placed, but flows into the tagline “Find your passion etc.” which really serves to sell the site.

The logo is unique and memorable and contains movement as well. The teasers to articles on the right, which resemble a newsfeed, are a very “hot” way to distribute information online right now. It gives the site an almost magazine-like or blog feel. Finally, a search engine placed at the top right with options for the user to conduct a self-directed search right away is excellent strategy: It gives the user choices and control over their experience – a way to truly NAVIGATE the site’s information – without being overwhelmed.