Presentation of Information
#1:Purpose
Ben & Jerry’s website main purpose is to educate people about their product. This includes the type of flavors, dairy/non-dairy options and the methods of creating it.
#2: Visual Appeal / Personality / Audience
The cartoonish background, bubbly fonts actually indicates they appeal more towards the younger crowd. It appears that Ben & Jerry’s aim is to market itself as a youthful and trendy brand.
#3: Accuracy / Credibility
This ties in line with what Ben & Jerry’s has set out to do with its website. One of the things they are trying to advocate is about the naturalness of the ice-cream they are selling here. In order to do that, the website actually touches on the methods of production and the types of ingredients used (eg. heavy cream, skim milk, etc). In order to showcase their credibility, there are testimonials posted by their own staff onto the webpage about it.
Site Design
#4: Starting point / Navigation
The starting point appears to be misleading for their website. As a person who is new to Ben & Jerry’s, one usually looks for the types of flavors available. However, in this case, the focal point is on their non-dairy article. One recommendation could be the placement of their flavor selection above the articles instead. One also struggles to find the ‘home’ button on the website as it turns out it is disguised as their company logo. There are no ‘breadcrumbs’ in this website as well so one will not be able to know where they have landed or how to return to the previous tab.
#5: Layout & Placement of Elements
The layout of the website can be described as simple and non-sophisticated. If one were to scroll over the top bar, all the elements will automatically be displayed. In this case, however, it seems that there are too many elements placed within each item. This discourages some viewers to continue browsing due to the large amount of information one expects to be thrown with. The option bar should be limited to fewer choices for a simpler and cleaner look.
#6: Loading Speed / Search
The loading speed of the webpage is optimally fast for its pages excluding videos which require some buffering. In the flavor selection menu, one can quickly search for the desired flavor alongside with prompts in the search bar.
#7: Readability / Color
The website uses a distinct contrast of colors in its background, fonts and images. This allows easy viewing and understanding of the information they are presenting.