For my third monthly review I chose to compare jimmychoo.com to thefryecompany.com.

The first thing I noticed about the Jimmy Choo website is the search bar in the top left-hand corner of the page. Although I like the fact that the search bar is easy to find, I’m not sure that it should be the most attention-grabbing item on the page. The layout of the items and sections on this website is really great, in my opinion. The text is small and subtle, but still readable, leaving the attention on the products. The color palette is composed of soft, light colors that also help keep the focus strictly on the products. In what I am assuming was an attempt to avoid the navigation from becoming too text-heavy, the designer of jimmychoo.com decided to add pictures as a part of some of the contextual navigation. For example, when a user clicks on the “Accessories” link, rather than a pop-up or menu appearing, three pictures do; wallets, sunglasses, and all accessories. This really helps balance the flow of the site and keeps it from becoming boring and repetitive. The Jimmy Choo site does make use of breadcrumbs, however, I think that it is somewhat poorly executed. According to Krug, emphasis should be drawn to the last item to ensure that the user knows exactly where he or she is; the last breadcrumb on the Jimmy Choo site barely changes and should be slightly more attention grabbing to become more effective. One thing that I really like about the Jimmy Choo website is the fact that when you switch over to the men’s apparel the site color changes from feminine pink tones to much darker greys. Although the colors change, the site layout stays the same and the site ID is clearly visible which lets the user know that although they are on the same website, they have ventured into a different section.

The Frye Company website really gives a warm welcome to the user with an earthy color palette. I can easily spot the search bar, as well as the shopping cart and checkout, without feeling like the feature is overpowering. At first glance I really thought I was going to like this navigation much better than Jimmy Choo’s, however, upon further searching I found The Frye Company navigation to be choppy and hard to follow. There is very little local navigation and an overpowering amount of global nav. I was expecting a site with such a vast global navigation to be huge with a ton of local options to narrow down my searching. No breadcrumbs are used anywhere on the site, which is annoying. Mix that with the fact the there is no local navigation and you have a recipe for making the user frustrated and lost.

I think that The Frye Company website certainly beats the Jimmy Choo website in terms of a visually pleasing background and layout, however, I feel that overall the Jimmy Choo website makes for a better user experience. Not only was the color palette optimized to keep attention focused on the products, but the navigation flows wonderfully and helps the user stay on track and find what they need. It is super easy to get a visual mind-map of the Jimmy Choo website thanks to the effective use of breadcrumbing; plenty of “you are here” indicators. The site ID is clearly visable, and even when switching from women’s to men’s apparel it is clear that the user is still on a branch of the same site. The local navigation is very thorough and gives the user multiple options at every level, as well as the ability to combine and subtract local navigation links to optimize product searching.