Good and Bad Image

Bellow I present two images/home page sites. The first, opera.com, does not have good composition and the second, stampinup.com, does have good composition. Each website has a demographic of women of all ages. Because of that chosen demographic, one of the ways each site drives to catch the attention of its viewer by using artistic colors. Women are driven by emotion and colors feed that drive.

Both of the sites use soft subtle colors to enhance the feel of the picture but, one succeeds and the other does not. The colors on Opera’s page are too soft. The peach is too hard to focus on. It is hard to pick one thing to concentrate on or read. The contrast to its white background is too low. The colors on the Stampin Up page, on the other hand, incorporate the same subtle colors yet also use very vibrant colors as well. Stampin Up makes it easy to focus on one part of the webpage at a time. There are a variety of colors that work well together to present an artistic approach yet at the same time succeed at engaging the reader.

In light of balance, Oprah’s page is too messy. There is too much content and tags. My eyes don’t know where to start or stop. There isn’t a flow to the page. Some could argue that the two large photos with weakly placed and colored headlines creates function to the site, but that is not enough to take charge of the site and offer an environment that is easy to visually navigate. The Stampin Up image, on the other hand, is very simple. It doesn’t give the reader many options to choose from hence, the owner of the site has more control over the site path that the reader will take. The page takes your eyes from the upper left corner to the lower right side. It is very well balanced and very well executed.

To conclude, the two sites are aimed to grab the extended attention of the female reader. Opera.com has terrible contrast of color with their peach text. The page is too busy and doesn’t give the reader an opportunity to feel led to start or stop anywhere. The stampin up page uses color very well. Stampin Up also uses soft subtle colors but also uses bold colors to add effective contrast which makes it easy for readers to relax on one image or body of text at a time. This site is very simple and doesn’t overwhelm its viewers. Well done Stampin Up.