TG4 - Update Your Website
Sometimes you come across websites that have one or two things that need a change. Other times you find that the wrecking ball is the only option. Welcome to the TG4 website - a website that certainly needs the attention of the wrecking ball.
TG4 is the 4th largest television station in Ireland. It deals primarily with Irish language programming. In global terms it is a small TV network but it is not a small little company, it has about 80 employees and safeguards about another 300 jobs in independent production. So for a national broadcaster to have a website such as thing is disgraceful. TV networks have access to some of the finest designers and animators around so why persist with an awful website. Read More
Posted 05.11.07Espresso Machines, Apple, Google and Competition
Much has been said about the rising power of Google and Apple. Every tech blog worth their salt has commented on it at some point. If you want to actually be entertained by all of this skullduggery I can only suggest a visit to Bob Cringely’s website. The report that Google are going to get into social networking in a big way is pretty unsurprising really. Google make it really easy for their users to sample their services so if a technology exists they’re going in there and you’re coming along for the ride. The only major web application I can think of that Google hasn’t got a hold of yet is Auctions. Ebay are sitting pretty in that regard. I wonder how long that can be. Read More
Posted 31.10.07Mirror - Update Your Website
What we see on the web today in terms of graphics, layouts and design owes much to the newspaper industry. The printed media is the grand-daddy of website design and the two are pretty closely linked. The largest newspapers are also the largest journalistic sites on the web. Some are also some of the best looking and influential websites, such as the New York Times.
But newspapers are not perfect and they are also not the fastest to change. Having said that the web has been around long enough now, that all major media outlets should have great websites. Tabloids are different though. They don’t care. They don’t care for journalistic standards, style, information or providing a public service. Advertising income at whatever cost seems like the order of the day.
And so it is with no surprise I stumble upon the cack-handed web presence of the Mirror. The New York Times, it ain’t. The Mirror is an ugly website. A blurred, crammed vision of what a media website should be.
The images are as blurry as the cheap shots they publish in the real newspaper so at least they are consistent. The padding of elements is all over the place, so while vertical padding is fine, the horizontal spacing is too tight. There are some garish colour clashes and font-sizes seemed to have been chosen at random.
There are also too many advertisments on the homepage. These ads follow no particular template and overall produce a dogs breakfast approach to design.
So why am I reviewing a tabloid, should they know better? Yes they should. They are a multi-million pound empire and can well afford a little bit of design work. Furthermore the best part of the real paper - the witty headlines and capitalised impact fonts are not present. They have been forgotten and what is left is just a cheap hodge podge of c.1999 website design.
The owners real need to have a long hard look at themselves in the Mirror.co.uk
Posted 30.10.07Website Design Classics - Harrods
Too often in life, that which is made out to be great disappoints. When you go on holiday you find the reality smaller, dirtier, less impressive than what you imagine. Sometimes, it is the opposite. What you see fills you with wonder and gives you that child like feeling of amazement. Read More
Posted 26.10.07Update Your Website - McDonalds (Part 2)
In Part 1 I commented on the poor design evident in the McDonalds Global homepage. Now as I stated a corporate website is a difficult thing to manage, especially with franchisees etc. However, this is not a good enough excuse. It is hard but it must be managed. Corporations should be rewarded because what they do is difficult, not for shirking the hard work. Read More
Posted 25.10.07Update Your Website - McDonalds (Part 1)
Sometimes you come across a website so bad that it takes more than one shot to get out all you want to say. Such is the case with McDonalds. McDonalds is a huge company which has come through a recent storm of criticism quite well. While it is often the easy target for people with a nutritional or anti-globalisation agenda, it never really is the scourge people say it is. There are far worse people on the planet than people who sell you a cheap burger. Read More
PostedWebsite 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. Read More
Posted 23.10.07Update Your Website - Italdesign
As I stated with regard to Goldman Sachs, I’m only concerned with highlighting the sites that really should know better. Today’s target, review is Automotive Design Constultancy, Italdesign Read More
Update Your Website - Goldman Sachs
Following on from my Website Design Classics comes the other side, those sites that are either awful (to come) or those that have got complacent and failed to develop. I don’t intend on knocking the local Hotel or Restaurant, but the big guys. The ones who have big budgets but seem to think the web doesn’t matter. Read More
Posted 18.10.07Bryan Habana’s 10.2 100m - Don’t Believe the Hype
The English media have launched a media blitz on Bryan Habana prior to the rugby World Cup final this Saturday. The English don’t have to worry about Habana, when the battle will be won or lost up front Read More
Posted 17.10.07