$28 million website
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- 193 Responses
- matt240
clayf - i said the frontend not backend suffered
3CY - amen, people don't always put enough value into the communication side of a website - there is the whole branding issue - is this website consistent with other CT promotional materials? From what i've seen somewhat but it could be alot better
- matt240
when you say research -- it doesn't help if all the designs they are picking from communicate poorly in the same manner -- then they are just picking the best of a bad thing
- clayf0
matt24 - yes, i realize that. i was talking about the frontend but said backend instead.
- MrDinky0
there are 200 employees but they are not there to just maintain the site.
most of them are business ananlysists....
think about this, how many companies that you know, has 200 ppl working only from the revenues from the site ) cause CT online has different accounting system seperate from the core business, that is making back its money in a market down fall.. somebody is doing something right
- architype0
was it done in canada? or the us?
what company did it?
cool if the money stayed in canada.
- TRNSMTR10
I agree completely with matt24!
this site has a lot of problems with grid, structure and hiearchy.
if there was some much thought about the backend of this site then it should be a very modular system.
i am not seeing much of a system at all.
mrdinky you have every right to defend this design, but to matt24 and many others this doesn't seem like the best solution to the design problem at hand.
i personally think it is very busy, unfocused and lobrow (not sophisticated, but not in terms of visual design but in information design).
- mitsu0
yeah, i don't care how much research went into that site... while i do agree that it does it's job visually as well as funtionally, it could have been done for much less. I could have built that site in 6-8 months for a couple of mil. (or a hell of a lot less if I wanted to be real generous). Granted this site may have been pushed out much faster, in which case the price goes up considerably.
- MrDinky0
matt
you are speaking as a desinger, not as a non designer who buys stuff from CT.
most of ppl really dont care how things look like. as long as content is good and works fine, the site will generate revenue.
as for branding, there are cross promotional aspects of things. it is different type of marketing strategy.
please dont think that there are some dumb asses that works on CT. there guys are one of most brillient brand managers. they put other promotional stuff on there because they have a deal with them..like i said, there are alot of things (marketing wise) that is happneing in the background...
maybe you take some MBA courese... learn more about strategy in single business organization.. or advanced marketing for consumer products.just because, CTs logo covers the site, it doesnt mean that they lack branding. everything has a purpose.
it doesnt work always but does work
- clayf0
most of you obviously have no experience working on bigger sites than your own porfolio.
- ankixa0
well...actually...i think the numbers are over 250.
the team is internal.
and really = i don't believe they need that many...but they have the responsibilities so divided that your job may be "the top right banner" person.....your responsibility is that particular banner....week after week.....nothing else.
- TRNSMTR10
and mrdinky as to your point...
"when someone is investing that much money business case and functionality comes first. design works with the them not dictating it. "
what good is the functionality if the user cannot use it (visual designs mantra!) this is bare bones usable, it has not tried to make it any easier for the user just staus quo. i have not seen any useful tools or a very straight forward navigation system. it just seems like the structure was based on a lot of pre existing things that "tested well..".
which is fine you should know what works well, but you should then try to make it work better.
this design just seems lazy and uninspired to me. i would think this would be a great information design challenge that many designers would love to work on.
instead it is just a poor amazon.
- clayf0
ankixa - i think it's more like 5 people or so have the responsibility of web design. the rest do product fulfillment, coding, customer service, etc...
- MrDinky0
could you guys of have come up with strategies for it too?
business case?
shard risk?yes i do agree that it could have been done it for less and make it look pretty BUT like i have said this site was not for design purpose.
yes i do agree that its not the best looking one nor that it has best visual layouts. the solution came from the combination of meeting the business goals and functionality .. thus following the research..
yuo make one and see if it makes money with out proper business objectives
- Warland0
Mr Dinky...
did you work at cossette? noticed a few bell things in your site...
- unknown0
brand strategy wise;
this one is still a better one overall:
Anyone know the costs of amazon?
- MrDinky0
HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU PEOPLE
THE LAYOUT DESIGN AND OTHER DESIGN RELATED WAS THE SOLUTION DERIVING FROM RESEARCH!
IF THIS RESEARCH WAS FAULTY AND LIKE YOU SAID ITS HARD FOR USER TO USE IT, HOW DOES IT MAKE MONEY?
- MrDinky0
no i didnt work at cossette...
eventhough cossette does mainly bell.
- sp0
yea...and there is NO way any one developer or designer could handle a site intergration of that size at all, especially in under a year.
it took a team of 6 programmers and developers and 3 years to institute an entire legacy conversion and ground up design/dev of a extranet system at my former emoployer.
if any designer thinks he could create even a small scale ecom site properly by him/her self in under a year then he's got a lot to learn.
hell, i would be willing to bet the majority of designers and developers don't even know what "Progress", SAP, SYMIX, or any other enterprise system is, save code and develop in it.
some php, html and flash is NOT creating a business platform.
- matt240
"most of ppl really dont care how things look like. as long as content is good and works fine, the site will generate revenue. "
- If that is what you and your group were thinking when you made the website then that is your main problem
Content is great but if you can't figure out how to navigate or find specific content then what good is it then?
- unknown0
"THE LAYOUT DESIGN AND OTHER DESIGN RELATED WAS THE SOLUTION DERIVING FROM RESEARCH!
IF THIS RESEARCH WAS FAULTY AND LIKE YOU SAID ITS HARD FOR USER TO USE IT, HOW DOES IT MAKE MONEY?"
hmm....I think there are some less visible benefits for the company that can be derived from the VISUAL obvious:
a fresh clean layout. With color and form underlining the brand!
It adds value to the site and the company in general!
(better brandnig example here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ )