09.18.2005

Design

Bingo!

From a branding viewpoint, the site is almost entirely functional in layout and does not generate much emotion.

BusinessWeek's article, Petsmart Needs Fixing, hits it right on the head. The trouble with many usability groups is they don't know how to balance the need for functionality with emotion in the design of things.

Now, with a product like Google, clearly something borne from a non-designer's hands, the amateurish interface is fine because, well, search is wholly about utility. But that's not the case for PetSmart or many other sites where companies are offering products or services that heavily rely on creating an emotional impact on their audience to win their loyalty.

It's a fact: human beings make decisions that are partly rational and partly emotion-based. Let's face it, if all we needed to do to figure out compatible mates was to compare a list of functional specs, we'd have a sharply lower divorce rate. But people do, and will, make decisions based on emotional appeal and when something is bereft of emotional design, it could be as much of a turn-off as something that is functionally ill-thought.

Add to del.icio.us | Add to ma.gnolia

Other Design entries: