$28 million website
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- ********0
hmm dude..
i guess you live in the "designer land"
go do some digging at Forrester Research... and other research firms
- ********0
i hear you all
if this site fails cause ppl are complaining about poor design and layout than you guys can smack me silly...
- surfito0
designers have to be defense lawyers and marketing teams prosecutors.
i met this marketing girl not too long ago, and that proved my point.
- speedball0
It sounds like the problem isn't the figure, but the description of what it paid for. The 28 million went into a complete infrastructure rebuild for a huge organization, it include equipment, systems, staff, business model evaluation and overhaul...oh, and a website too.
- sp0
running unix, i pray.
- unknown0
oooops?????
- TRNSMTR10
ok well after almost a 150 posts on the subject i think the point still is...
if you are going to spent that much money on something:
VISUAL DESIGN IS IMPORTANT
all the money that was spent on research no one really saw the importance of solid visual and information design, who is running that place monkeys!!!
absolutey crazy!
and for you to be defending this sites visual short -comings on a design portal is even crazier!
design is not all 45 degree angeles and arrows, it is about solving problems and this site really missed the mark with all the research and money behind it.
- Biofreak0
i dont really have anything to add that hasnt already been stated, i just wanted to see my screen name somewhere in this thread.
thats all.
=)
- unknown0
I thought I WAS MISSING SOMETHING (soory caps) here, Bio...
I think this case can now be safely closed...
:)
- k0na_an0k0
hmmmm.... interesting
*tugging on soul patch
- monNom0
"we all still sit down and ask our selves, why the dot com industry went down?.
it was all because of ugly websites spending too much money on usability research and not spending that money in graphic design.
"--surfitoyou can't be serious? the dotcom boom faultered and died not because of lack of graphic design, not poor usability. The internet was doing just fine, and working it's problems out as it went along. It was the frenzy of investment and stories of next-day millionaires that brought it to it's artificial high, and subsequent low.
"the better the high, the lower the low."
- Biofreak0
*tugging on my goatee cuz k0na reminded me that i like to tug on it.
case... closed.
or is it? stay tuned for the next episode of...
The 28 MIllion dollaaaaaaaar WEBSITE!
- surfito0
blame it all on the marketing team.
theill get fired soon.
and the designers? i bet you they got laid off the day they finished the project.
and the CEOs? they still make money no matter what, if it doesnt work they go coach another company just like baseball managers do.
at least in baseball the baseball players are more important than the ceo's and third base coach.
in this game, the players are all in the dogout swinging the bats and catching balls while the coaches are playing the game and forget to coach.
- surfito0
ah, dot com went down because everything sucked.
its easier and more fun to actually go to the store to buy your winter coat.
a site has to bee too much fun to convince people to stay home.
remember, stores are really fun.
- A020
surfito:
Your example of looks can be turned completely around the other way too.
I think many dotcom companies fell apart because they looked great, but content and usability was really horrendous.
I'd rather date the girl who looks a little less pretty that you could talk to for hours than the hot girl that grabs your attention when she walks in the room - but can't talk about much besides PRADA, handbags, etc.
CT's site is more like that less-pretty girl. There's more to her at the expense of potentially better looks. Of course there are super-models with a lot under the surface, but they are few and far between. As a business, it's a safer bet to make an average looking site that won't offend or turn anyone away.
CT's site isn't the prettiest thing around, but it works - and for the blue collar demo it's going after - it's works BETTER than average.
Business is all about making money. They'd be much happier with a bland site that breaks even than an awesome site that makes little because the demo doesn't feel comfortable.
They can always go back and fix the look of the frontend. They did the right thing by paying up to do the backend integration the CORRECT way the first time out - instead of trying to hack it all together in pieces down the road.
We could sit here forever and debate whether or not it could look better or even work better from a usability standpoint. The reality is that if the company is already seeing a ROI with this, they obviously did the right thing.
Just my ramblings...
- Creon0
Very well said
- mitsu0
no the dotcom biz went down because i don't want to buy everything under the sun from home in my underwear like all these suit think i do. i found everything i need on ebay.
- unknown0
ok...I really don't know about this company....
Where are those damn tires anyway?
why is it called Canadian Tire?
- unknown0
Apparently no one has ever worked on a moderately large website.
Shit gets lost just between your mouth and someone's ear
now, multiply that by 100.
I still think those tabs could have been prettier, though.
- unknown0
Ooohhh.
Just noticed the UUUGGGLLYY code and Macromedia JScript.
I feel for ya, man.