Illy - Website Design Classics
Sometimes I find reviewing websites is like meeting people. This is especially the case when it comes to reviewing our favourite products or companies. We are often told that we should never meet our heroes but I’ve never had much meas for that myself. Today’s website is that of one of my favourite products, Illy Coffee.
As any barista will tell you, Illy make excellent coffee. Whenever I’m in a foreign city I look for the Illy sign to dictate what coffee shop I should call to. Not only do I like the product but I also appreciate the way Illy handle their branding. Their logo is simple, distinctive and clear. Their packaging leads the way not just in terms of aesthetics but in functionality - those famous silver tins preserve coffee much better than highly stressed tinfoil.
The question today is whether they make excellent websites? In short the answer is yes. If there was any doubt they would let us down, it is removed as soon as the homepage loads (quickly). Immediately we can see that this is a no-nonsense, efficient website that scores high on usability.
Illy HomePage
The colour palette of this website is quite small with white and shades of grey being the dominant colour. This serves as the perfect contrast for Illy’s signature bright red to make an impression where necessary. The main homepage real estate is taken up by a selection of 3 main advertising-style section which show Illy’s 3 main product lines. Whereas most website use Flash for this task, Illy have wisely chosen to use javascript and images. This contributes to a cutterfree homepage that loads quickly and is easily navigable.
A Regular Page on the Illy Website
Beyond the homepage, the regular content webpages are laid out for functionality. There is little wasted space, and the text is clear and scannable as web text should be. The use of large fonts instead of header images is to be applauded. It is almost impossible to make a large font look as good as an image and it is good to see such a design conscious firm recognise why functionality is important on the web. The images that are used are high quality, striking and relevant. Too may corporate websites use irrelevant stock images but Illy use images that relate directly to their product and brand.
I really like the way Illy use white borders on small sections off a grey background. This is an underutilised design trick and suits this website well. The navigation is clear and easy to use. With breadcrumb trail navigation serving as a useful adjunct to the dropdown navigation at the top. All of this design quality would be of no use if the content was awful, but this is not the case. This website is a wealth of information for coffee lovers and aficionados.
Sometimes meeting your heroes exceeds your expectations and you are left wondering why you ever thought meeting them would be a bad idea. In the online and offline world, Illy continue to exceed our expectations.
Posted 22.01.08