The websites I chose for this review are Jimmy Choo and Cole Haan. Both are widely known shoe designers. Very popular shoe designers for those who can actually afford $150 or more for a pair of shoes.
Both websites have a similar layout. Both have a similar square and rectangular site with the set up of the different photos of shoes being advertised. The colors are very simple and plain as well. Cole Haan uses white mainly, with bits of bright color, but that is very minimal. Jimmy Choo also uses very simple and plain colors, mainly using tan and white. Bright colors are not really used, minus those that are in some of the actual shoes being advertised and the high contrast in some photos. Menu is simple and appears to be in a Times New Roman font on Jimmy Choo while a more san serif kind of font on Cole Haan. Both work very well and are very effective. There is even a search menu to “Shop By” on Jimmy Choo to narrow down what you are looking for. Cole Haan does not have this, so it requires more thinking when trying to find exactly what you are looking for. There should be a search like thing like Jimmy Choo has. The more a customer has to think, the more uninterested they become, and say “Forget about it.” when it comes to finding exactly what they are looking for.
Both are also very balanced, layout wise, with keeping it simple and minimalistic. Basic, plain colors are used for the most part. The sub-navigation does not pop out in a bright color. I wish it did because it would make it stand out as Krug says it should in ‘Don’t Make Me Think’. There are some hover colors for the main links for Cole Haan, which does help seperate them. Different font sizes and varied spacing also help. Jimmy Choo, on the other hand, features more of a sub-navigation with links that are the same font size and spacing to that of the main links. However, Jimmy Choo’s search is much more indepth than Cole Haan’s, which is very helpful when shopping for something specific, as mentioned earlier.
As for unity, both of these sites are very united. They both tie together all on their own and create a harmonious, balanced, and complete whole. Even the navigation on both of those sites has unity. The navigation design for both of them is a simple, plain menu (so is the sub-menu that drops down). It helps to create unity between each of the sites and tie in to each of the layouts.
As emphasis, both sites have some elements that stand out from the others. Both sites have an emphasis on shoes and that shows. Cole Haan uses some brighter colors to emphasize the shoes within the photographs and advertisements used to show the various shoes.. Jimmy Choo uses high contrast photos and some bits of bright color to emphasize and make them stand out from the rest of the page. Neither of these sites use tabs, which in my opinion is a problem. Tabs really help to organize and utilize all aspects of the site. They also help to make various parts of the site stand out when it comes to the navigation. Krug also agrees that tabs are a very good thing, according to what he says in ‘Don’t Make Me Think’.
What is interesting is that Cole Haan does not use breadcrumbs really. So, when you’re on one page, you don’t know how you got there, or remember how you got there. That is when breadcrumbs come in, and that does not help that Cole Haan does not have them. Jimmy Choo does utilize breadcrumbs, which is a very good thing.
These principles and Krug’s five important “things” to make users see and understand the site make both of these sites very different. Jimmy Choo utilizes all of those important things and the principles, making for a very successful and well designed site. From breadcrumbs to tabs and beyond, both of these sites vary. Cole Haan is the complete opposite and does not use a bunch of these important things like breadcrumbs and tabs. It makes their site much more difficult to navigate and as a result, is a worse design.
In my opinion, I feel that Jimmy Choo for the most part is more effective at drawing my attention. The reason being is because of their very specific search and their entire layout is more comprehensive to a degree compared to that of Cole Haan. Jimmy Choo also has a slightly more colorful background to add to their layout design, which makes it stand out a little more.