Website Design Classics - The Rakes
One generalisation in website design that usually holds up is that band websites will suck. Band websites generally encompass all that is wrong about usability on the web. I’m not sure why it is, whether bands want a flashy website to prove they are creative or to cover over the fact they are not.
I remember about 6 years ago looking at the website of Westlife, and it was fantastic looking. It was done in Flash and a complete resource hog but it looked well. It almost made me forget that they were a covers band. Scroll forward to now and band websites all look pretty snazzy. The emphasis here is on look, they don’t work well by in large.
The reasons why are generally due to an over-reliance on Flash, mystery meat navigation - where you don’t where the image you are clicking on is actually bringing you to, zero coding standards and no adherence to usability guidelines.
From first glance, The Rakes website is immediately different. You click on the link and the site loads, plain and simple. It is very quick and efficient with a lot of speed optimisation done at the coding level. The main reasons you would re-visit a band site are for news, Giglist, and the messageboard. In most band websites you have to get over a splash screen and dig out this information. On the Rakes website, News and Gigs are clearly displayed above the fold so there is no need to navigate elsewhere for the most part.
The Navigation is clear, easy to use and well labeled. Too often bandsites change the name of things like “Home” to someone unintuitive like “Couch” and they try to make simple things complicated. Everything on this page is well spaced. Nothing feels crammed and the art work is simple, clear and very distinctive.
All in all this site is a beacon of clear design in an over the top segment and is a fitting website for the Rakes themselves. Credit due to retrofuzz for a great design.
Posted 23.10.07
January 15th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
The website is a great example of a simple yet extremely effective design. Also worth mentioning is the neat and classy “pictures” section of the Rakes website. Again its simple but very classy looking. Good review of their site!!!