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Design Continuum Blog

This page is no longer, uh, relevant. Since I wrote this (May of '99), they have totally reworked their site. So the links I had are broken, and removed below. I guess they finally admitted to how completely crappy their old site was! I should review their new site - although I really don't expect the new stuff to be that much better. Word to the wise: make a copy of the pages you are reviewing.

Overall

Almost Acceptable. Decent site let down by repeated egregious design errors. But, hey, at least it doesn't require JavaScript!

Front Page

• There is a widespread trend for web sites to have a big front page splash with no real functional content; they just expect you to click through to the TOC. The DC front page can be confusing for people who are used to that style, since it is actually the TOC in and of itself. The design of the graphic, unfortunately, reinforces such erroneous expectations with it's high contrast, centrally located and circular logo, which Pavlovian types might pounce upon. I know I did.
• When the user realizes that clicking on "the Big U" doesn't do anything, they then have to parse the options available. Unfortunately, the options are entirely too small for such high-level and important paths. They are also very similar in their wording, making it difficult for the user to distinguish quickly among them. There are, generally speaking, two classes of users one can expect to be accessing a web site; those who are interested in broad learning, and those who are trying to find a very specific set of information. The latter's progress is retarded by the blurring of these available options. Furthermore, the more effort such a user has to expend in navigating the site, the more likely they are to simply leave.
• Overall, I'd say make the letters a bit bigger and use serifs. (Update: These days, it sounds like research is leading towards favoring sans-serif. Where's my crow to eat?)

Capabilities Page

• The layout does not reinforce the categorization; as the user scrolls down the page everything becomes jumbled as a) there is no punctuation to distinguish items b) there is no horizontal ruling c) there is no visible vertical ruling. An improvement would be to slightly color the vertical columns to differentiate them horizontally, but a complete overhaul of the grid is warranted.

General / Repeated

• Multiple navigation bars are counter intuitive. The fact that the different nav bars in the DC site do not apply the same breakdown of the site only further confuse matters. It would be better to put the Process/Capabilities/Clients nav bar items in the header nav bar under the appropriate tab. Furthermore, while it is good to have a text version of the nav bar, it shouldn't be forced into width restrictions on the right hand side, since that can lead to unnecessary and visually displeasing text wrapping.
• The called-out text is unsightly. The areas from which it is pulled are small, and repeating text serves no useful purpose. The error is particularly blatant on the 'Do' page where the call-out is directly along side the body it's taken from, which happens to also be the very start of that text! When Web designers think in terms of design for the printed page, it can lead to blindly implementing devices which are inappropriate for the Web. Called-out text is such a device. In my experience, people do not flip through a Web site as they do a magazine, where the call-outs are meant to grab and focus a viewer's attention. Generally speaking, the viewer of text on a Web site will already be seeking something; they will already be engaged in the text, and the call-outs will simply look, well, silly. A better solution in this case would be to simply not have any call-outs and italicize the desired text, since it will most likely be on screen to begin with.
• The design obstinately ignores the basic principal that foreground must sufficiently contrast with background, in both text and diagrams. e.g.: strategic_circle.gif (image extinct). Furthermore, the process diagram (image extinct) is overblown, lacks any coherent design, and so does not communicate information efficiently. It is basically unnecessary in the first place since text (with at most some simple icons) would do a much better job of conveying the ideas.