I chose to compare and contrast two clothing stores, Chadwick's and Land's End.

Chadwick’s

With the picture of the beach and the emphasis on the word clearance, it is obvious Chadwick’s is having a summer clearance sale. The main objective is immediately recognized. All of the boxes are aligned, except for the middle one which is noticeably not and somewhat distracting. The site uses the color red to denote sales and clearance items as seen in the large text in the middle box, the red arrow in the navigation bar, the clearance catalog, and the flash advertisement. This is a good use of a repetitive visual cue. Although the color choice for the 20% coupon is a little hard to read, the words “Special Offer” are in all caps to contrast with the lowercase text throughout, and the blue and purple colors are certainly contrasted between the red and yellow advertisements. The navigational links are in all caps as not confuse them with the other text. There is a contrast of sans serif vs. serif fonts which gives it an overall nice balance. Everything is centered, so there is no strong and defined alignment which could potentially cause the eyes to jump over the screen, but with the red letters dominating in size and space on the page, there is a clear focal point.

In regards to the audience, Chadwick's is evidently a women's clothing store. The colors and fonts are very effeminate, and the items are dress, jackets, shoes, skirts, etc. Even the little shopping bag icon is cute and appropriate. I think it is very easy to navigate and it takes little time or effort at all to find what is that you want to shop for. The search engine is conveniently located, and what I probably like best, is that all of the important information is available the moment you get to the screen without having to scroll.

Land’s End

Based on the color palette, the picture, and of course the large text with the word “autumn” in the left side panel, Lands End is obviously launching its fall line; same with Chadwick’s, the immediate objective is easily identified. The banner, the navigational links, and the center box do not align which gives it an odd look. There is no strong definite line for the eye to travel. However, in the left side column, they apply the alignment principle and it is very easy for the eye to skim down the page. The decorated print in the left hand column is just enough to really make the text pop. The contrast of serif fonts to sans serif fonts in that same left column are nice visual cues to denote text from links. The rules of proximity are employed as all of the “New Arrivals” are separated from the usual clothing which is found in the top navigational links. The color palette creates just enough contrast to pull in colors from the picture and create a very nice appeal. Although I think it is easy to distinguish the top navigation links, I think they should have used all caps or even a background color to make them pop off the page; I think they tend to get lost amongst the banner especially since they are the same color.

With the amount of information that Land’s End has to display, they do a nice job of making it easy for the user to navigate. Creating different sections makes it less of a hassle for the user to navigate the site as they can clearly see what link they need to press to get there. Although they sell men’s and women’s clothing, clearly, this is directed more towards women based on the colors, the image, and the overall feel. I think the picture should have at least included a picture of a male and female because they would have better been able to advertise popular items for both sexes, as opposed to just the women. I think at a first glance, most viewers would assume that Land’s End was primarily a women’s clothing store based on its current appearance.

Both sites do a nice job of using white space to better display their information. They did not try to place color everywhere, which gives it a cleaner, more professional and elegant look.