As any designer knows, ‘whitespace’ or ‘negative space’ can make websites more legible and easier to digest. Whenever I layout a page for print or the Web, I actively monitor how much negative space there is around, then use it to balance out text and images. However, in the world of videogames websites, this and many other best practices are often discarded in the relentless pursuit of squeezing as much content and advertising space into view as possible. This, then, is a guide to how not to design a videogames website, using a number of the most popular sites on the Web.
1. Anything you can see is fair game
GameSpot is one the worst designed videogames websites and a fine place to begin. The entire background is given over to advertisers, with the main content pushed into a narrow column, leaving no negative space whatsoever. The typography and colours within this main section may be consistent, but the overall impression given by the overpowering array of colour is a negative one. Any focal point that the page had quickly disintegrates in the mess that unfolds and the user is left to navigate their way through the treacherous sea of advertisements in search of content.
2. Put content on multiple pages
I’m not sure who came up with this dastardly trick first, but I’m pretty sure that it was an advertising or marketing committee. The theory goes something like this, “if we make people load more pages, they’ll see more ads, click them and make us a ton of money!” How anyone could think that this is a good thing for the user is beyond me. Unless the article is ridiculously long, it should stay on one page. It takes long enough to load a single GameSpot page, let alone two or three.
3. Make the actual article difficult to read
Typography on the Web is just as important as it is in print. Yet some sites like IGN don’t seem to understand this. Their articles seem to use the default line-height and a font size which is too small, making them difficult to read. Most of the other large videogames sites get this right, leaving IGN sticking out like a sore thumb.
4. Take a commercial break
If the amount of ads on the larger videogames sites like 1UP wasn’t enough already, some of them have the cheek to halt your progress through the site to show you an huge commercial. Users don’t pay attention to this sort of brute force advertising; all they want to do is find the ’skip to content’ button as quickly as possible.
5. Put anything you like on the site navigation
IGN’s site navigation is comical at best. Not only is it split up, but it extends down the page for what seems like forever. The most relevant options may be towards the top, but that still doesn’t excuse the excessive number of those available. Having too many navigation links like this slows the user down, prolonging the process of finding what they’re looking for.
Follow the leader
I’m not saying that every large videogames website should ignore its commercial responsibilities in favour of beautiful aesthetics, but it wouldn’t hurt to use some common sense in their designs. It can be done; Eurogamer has plenty of ads and uses the multiple page trick, but its navigation is concise, the typography is sound and doesn’t take breaks like 1UP. In fact, it’s the only moderately well designed large site out there.
There are hundreds of videogames websites, but many of them are much smaller that the ones I’ve mentioned so far. The trouble is that the designers of these second and third tier sites often replicate the layout and practices of GameSpot et al, resulting in a plethora of badly designed sites. Such poverty of design has become so commonplace that it’s now accepted as normal, and that’s a real shame.
Published in Design, Videogames, Websites, tagged 1UP, Eurogamer, GameSpot, IGN on 28th March 2008. One comment.
The other day I was travelling up to London in the commuter rush hour and I noticed something; everyone was reading a newspaper. Britain is one of the largest, if not the largest, consumer of newspapers per capita in the world, so this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Yet we keep hearing that their days are numbered, so I began to wonder if that was actually true.
Being a student these days means that you’re constantly thinking of what you’re going to do after you leave university. Just having a degree isn’t enough any more; you have to stand out as being ultra-employable in the now highly competitive graduate job market. After seeing all these employed people reading newspapers, I decided to buy my own and attempt to figure out the attraction.
I bought The Guardian and one story caught my eye, “Forget free CDs, report advises newspapers”. A quarter-page article, it focused on a report by consultants Ernst & Young which talked about online advertising models and the problem of attracting younger readers. Here’s an extract:
“More than half of the UK’s 15-44-year-olds use the internet for their daily information and most of the content they access is free.
Younger age groups may never acquire the ‘paid-for newspaper habit’, says the report.”
This seems to be spot on; I get my daily news from the BBC website and via a number of specialist blogs through RSS feeds, all for free. Yet here I was, reading about the report in a paid-for newspaper.
I wondered; is reading a newspaper an institutional or generational habit? All these commuters around me were of the same age, but also worked in the same area. It was hard to tell. Maybe reading a newspaper is just one of the things you do when you go to work or maybe it’s just a dying tradition that the Web will make obsolete.
I think it’s a bit of both. Sure, previous generations are more likely to read them, but there’s something about newspapers which goes with employment and commuting. It’s good to have something to read on the way to and from work, something that’s cheap and informs you ready for the day ahead. It keeps you in the loop, able to discuss topical issues with friends and colleagues.
However, my generation won’t just pick them up as soon as we’re in full-time employment. It would be easy to live without them, with the temptation and perceived need for them is less. Newspapers then, have a fight for our attention on their hands.
One of the ways they can appear to be more modern and relevant to us is through design. I picked up The Guardian, but why that one? Although it might be regarded as more liberal than others and therefore more appealing to students, there are plenty of other respectable publications that you might choose.
The Guardian stands out for me is because its recent redesign makes it the only clean and modern newspaper out there. Block colour and a contemporary serif font are a few details which make it what is widely regarded as one of the best newspaper designs in the world.
So while The Guardian might carry stories predicting the demise of its own medium, it’s actually far safer than other publications when it comes to extinction. Its design sets it out as an established paper ready for the modern world and this should appeal to people like me who are approaching their ‘newspaper reading years’.
Published in Design, tagged newspapers, The Guardian on 25th March 2008. No comments.
As books go, The art of looking sideways is a pretty big one. At 1066 pages, Alan Fletcher’s “primer in visual intelligence” is not something you can take with you to work or quickly use as a reference. It is, however, an interesting compilation of ideas which is well worth a look at.
Arranged in 72 chapters, The art of looking sideways is more a collection of anecdotes, quotations, odd facts and random material than a guide to design. There are no rules or guidelines, but instead numerous snippets of knowledge. In a way, it is about everything and nothing, a compendium of thoughts gathered through years of experience.
You can use it in a few ways. First of all, you could read it in a linear fashion, soaking up information chapter by chapter. You could also open a few pages a day at random and be inspired. Because of its massive size, you get the impression that every time you read it, you’ll find something new and that you’ll never exhaust it. Either way, you could use it for design ideas, since there is no visual consistency and every page has its own individual style.
The art of looking sideways is one of those coffee table books which might come across as overpriced and pretentious, but given a chance, it delivers on its promise to entertain and inspire.
Published in Book reviews, Design, tagged inspiration on 25th March 2008. No comments.
I have a new resolution; to buy a design book every month. Sure, there are plenty of tutorials on the Web, but I find that books give you something extra in their tactile form.
Anyway, my first purchase is Layout, the second title in Ambrose and Harris’ Basics Design series. The 175 page book uses work by major studios to illustrate the rules of layout, primarily of print design. Some of the concepts cross over to the Web, but this is essentially a book for those interested in print publishing.
Layout goes through each topic, clearly explaining principles and backing them up with well chosen examples. You don’t have to have any prior knowledge to make the most of it, just a curiosity for how to get the most out of your pages.
I’m not sure if I would buy the entire series, but as a standalone book, Layout is a fine addition to any print designer’s library. It’s clear, concise and is a great book to have at hand when designing.
Published in Book reviews, Design on 23rd March 2008. No comments.
I’ve written about Threadless on here before and I think they’re a perfect example of how to do business online and a brand worth evangelising. They never seem to be resting and are constantly improving the service they offer. The latest wave of Threadless updates sees a website redesign, improved shirt quality and new customised packaging.
The site has always allowed you to view clothing by size, type and line, but now you can do all three in one screen. Using a few well designed drop-down menus, you can mix and match criteria to view all the medium hoodies, for instance. Rolling over items also shows their design immediately too, further improving usability.
Threadless has also started to print its designs on its own brand shirts instead of just getting American Apparel or Fruit of the Loom to do it for them. I recently got a shirt through the post from them and the increase in quality is definitely noticeable. The material seems much thicker, feels nicer to touch and the actual print appears to be more vivid. The shirt quality was never bad, but now it’s even better.
They’ve also started using their own custom designed packaging, which made me smile the first time I saw it. As you can see below, it uses the same style and wit that the site embodies, adding a unique value to the product.
These updates are in completely different parts of their operation, but all three show Threadless’ commitment to improving their service.
Published in Design, Websites, tagged Threadless on 22nd March 2008. No comments.
Browsing around on my Mac, I noticed a few interesting details in a couple of application icons:
CSSEdit 2.5
Apple’s TextEdit
Published in Software, tagged CSSEdit on 22nd March 2008. No comments.
Ars Technica reports rumours of an iTunes subscription model:
A report by the Financial Times (registration required) cites unnamed executives who say that Apple is in talks with record labels to offer access to the entire iTunes music library for a lump sum price. The fee would be added as a premium option on an iPod or iPhone, or it could come as a monthly charge. It would allow downloading of any song at any time so long as the purchaser still owns the device, and the songs would be yours to keep.
…
Since the average iPod owner buys about 20 tracks from the iTunes, Apple wants to make the premium about $20, arguing that it should cover the average consumer’s downloads. Then the owner can make unlimited music downloads from the iTunes Store for the life of the device. Once downloaded, the tracks are yours to keep, even if you get rid of the original iPod or iPhone.
I use iTunes intermittently, but if a subscription model was on offer that allowed you to keep the music instead of just renting it, then this would be an unbelievably good deal. Even if it was about $100, you’d still get your money’s worth from about six or seven albums. Maybe they’re banking on people not taking full advantage of it, but I know that I’d be on there all day filling up an external drive with new music!
Published in Software, Tech, tagged iTunes on 19th March 2008. No comments.
Getting Things Done application Things has been updated to version 0.9, with recurring tasks now implemented. The Mac software, which is in beta testing, is designed to help you manage your everyday tasks. I’ve written about it before and along with iCal, use it to keep track of everything I need to do.
As well as other enhancements, Things now allows you to make every task a recurring one. The development team at Cultured Code have done a remarkably good interface design job and almost any repeating pattern can be used. Note the clever addition of the next predicted dates, which makes visualising complex sequences extremely easy.
Recurring tasks are then stored in the Scheduled section, where they are split into segments for daily, weekly, monthly and other patterns. From here you can reschedule tasks or pause them, which is a nice touch.
There are many Getting Things Done applications on the Mac, but Things stands out above the rest because of its outstanding user interface design. Its clean lines, simplicity and logical layout are on par with anything that Apple produce themselves, and when it’s finally released it’ll be well worth the $49 asking price.
Published in Productivity, Software, tagged Getting Things Done, Things on 16th March 2008. No comments.
Anyone with an iPhone or iPod Touch is sitting very comfortably after today’s announcements. Apple revealed its software developer kit (SDK) and showed off demos of enterprise software and videogames which had been built in only two weeks. There are two sides to this - the developers’ and the users’ - but both perspectives look extremely rosy.
I’ve never made an application for the Mac, but I was extremely impressed by the tools that they’re offering with the SDK. They’ve made it incredibly easy to build programs and then test them right away. People are going to want to make applications for the iPhone and iPod regardless of how easy it is, but I never anticipated them making it this accessible.
As a consumer, the announcements are also of great interest. The easy and speed with which programs can be developed means that all of the applications that we’d like will likely be up and running very quickly. By the time the software update comes in June, you can bet that many of the ‘wanted list’ will be ready. Games also featured heavily in the presentation and you can bet that this is one area that’ll really take off.
I bought a 32GB iPod Touch a few weeks ago and although it cost a lot of money, I thought it would be worth it in the long run. Now I know for sure.
Published in Software, Tech, tagged iPhone, iPod Touch on 6th March 2008. One comment.
