... Look at Me ...

Do you know how hard it is to catch a viewer’s eye on the Internet? But now that I have yours I would like to discuss the importance of visual attractiveness on the Internet. Reading articles, looking at pictures, shopping, evaluating, watching movies or even chatting with friends all requires a practice of looking. We were all given eyes to look and see. So what makes us want to see certain things and completely avoid others? Visual attraction, or the lack there of.

Especially in the advertising industry, visual appeal is crucial to the success of an ad. If an ad doesn’t stand out through the clutter of pages in a magazine or channels on TV, it limits its potential exposure. Advertising agents understand the capability of this innate skill and try to use it to their advantage. Being use to constant visual appeal, websites relevant to the advertising industry should not lack that same appeal. However, websites such as AdWeek.com compromise their own visual attraction by adding too much clutter. It is important o have a substantial amount of information on the website. It is more important to have that information organized to make it easily accessible to the viewer. AdWeek.com definitely lacks organization.

As a viewer opens the page, the first image noticed is the title “ADWEEK”. That’s great! However, after that point everything is a blur. There are so many great features on this website, but none of them stand out to the viewer. For example, the clutter of advertisement banners is inescapable. The ads encompass the entire page and do not allow the reader to experience the full potential of the website. Advertisements range from the Golden Globe awards to Billboard.com. All readers know that websites commonly make money through advertisements. Therefore having to many ads reduces a website’s credibility and gives it a money–driven reputation. This website has a lot of great information but the ads clutter the page and do not attract readers.

The biggest flaw this website has though is its choice of font color. The article titles are in large black font, however the body is in a light grey small font. Light grey on a white background is distracting and not attractive to the eye. I have 20/20 vision, so if it’s difficult for me to read the font then it must be difficult for most other people too. Not only is the font color a problem but also the size doesn’t help the reader either. One-fourth through the article I get frustrated and stop reading. I strongly believe that this is not the intention of Ad Week, however it is an unintentional mistake they should fix.

Analyzing the different layers of the website is the hardest part. There are multiple menus to select from, and all of them supply different information. They have an “Ad Week Directory,” on the left side of the page. Do not be surprised if you don’t notice it because the 8pt font can be easy to miss. They also have a menu right under that which leads viewers to information regarding industry reports, customer media, FAQ, Contact information… etc. On the top of the page, under the title, there are nine tabs that lead to different areas of advertising such as “creatives” or “print.” Make not of the advertisements you see on the right hand side of these specific pages. Can you honestly say they haven’t over done it? In addition to the tab bar and the sidebar there is also a Nielson Media Marketing & Arts Group ad with a menu with ten selections right underneath it. At first glance I thought the menu was in regards to the Nielson Marketing Group, but skimming through the links I realized that they are unrelated to one another. Why has Ad Week chosen to display it this way? Are they trying to intentionally mislead their readers or is it a lack of organization? I believe once again that they lack organization.

I urge AdWeek.com to spend some time reevaluating their website. This website has a lot of potential but because of its lack or organization and format it becomes unattractive to the viewer. People see what they want to see and no one wants to see clutter. Ad Week has a clutter of ads, which are not getting the exposure they are paying for. Being piled on top of each other and set to the side is not an efficient way to display ads. I think their advertising space should be limited. Instead of having eight ads on the right of the page they should have five ads spaced out. Also, the font color and size need to be more readable. Lastly, their menu selections should be limited and less confusing. Having too much of a selection and scattered all around distracts the reader and doesn’t allow them to focus or find what they are looking for. I think the information this website provides is very useful but I wish it didn’t take me so long to find.