In the era we live in, there are two categories all business and entrepreneurs can be classified under. Those who use Stanford-D design thinking methods, and those who do not.
A well designed product, such as a website, app, blog, or social media page should be easy to use, have the correct objectives, and seem to effortlessly meet its objectives. The best way to do this is to start by examining the audience that the product is being designed for, attempting to place yourself in the intended customer's shoes and work to build the perfect product for that type of customer, without preconceived notions of what you will design. While this idea sounds simple and many businesses think they have this practice, the truth is they are working towards a predetermined objective which may not be ideal for their customer. You may have heard of some companies that have used this method, such as Apple, Google, and Nike to name a few.
The best example of a company that uses design thinking methods to design their website is Apple. Their website is clean, precise, simple to use, properly spaced, features top selling products first, and is constantly updating to stay current with changing trends in the market. They watched as users of PC's struggled with their devices and software, recognizing that they were often too difficult to use and made the customer feel stupid. So instead of setting out to build the most complex website possible, with the most features and information they could fit on a webpage, they took a different approach. They clearly display that their products, like their website, are beautiful, work well, and are easy to use. And for these reasons they are loved by their customer base, and likely always will be.
Another great example of a well designed website is that of Toyota. Unlike Apple, Toyota's customer base is a bit broader, therefore it's design is intended to appeal to a broader audience. Toyota also does a great job of displaying it's beliefs it shares with its audience. Some examples of this on their website are the sponsorships it has with the US Olympic Committee posted next to the name Toyota. At Toyota, they realize their customers may be concerned about the company being un-American, so they squash this issue by showing clear support for an American cause that brings up little to no controversy. They also show articles about "Our American Journey" and other topics that would appeal to its American customers. Their website also does a great job of displaying products that are visually appealing and likely within reach of the customer's budget, while providing reasonable but not overwhelming amounts of information.
Unfortunately, not all companies think of the customer before designing a product, such as a website, to support said customers. Penny Juice, (or is it Penny O Juice?) is one of these unfortunate companies. It seems clear upon first glance at their website, that neither their website, nor product, where designed with the customer as the first and primary concern. Their website and name is confusing, the layout hasn't been thought through, the graphics are outdated, they proclaim no core values, and it all comes together to look like they just didn't care about design and simply wanted the ability to say they have a website. Instead the company should have first found an audience that may be interested in their product, shaped their product to fit that customer base, then built a website to cater to that demographic. While these ideas are vital to the design of the website from the start, having better spacing, a more clear message, and cleaner, newer graphics would also be an enormous improvement to the website.
While the website design for Penny Juice wasn't ideal, it's not nearly as poorly designed and executed as that of roverp6cars.com, otherwise known as MGBD Parts. Not only does their website lack any focus on a particular customer demographic, the design itself has no clear objective. Their dictation and grammar is deplorable, the coding work is sub-amature, all of their pages are cluttered, spacing is inconsistent, contrasting is atrocious, and the information provided does nothing more than confuse the viewer. For this website, I would completely start over with a new name for either the company, the website, or both, that exemplified some kind of purpose or meaning. Once the company had a name that was well understood, I would replace their navigation system of links with a drop menu that was consistent across all pages and conserved space. Once the navigation was sorted out, I would rewrite all content on the website so the average english speaker could read it and derive a point of some kind from the mess that currently exists. In essence, roverp6cars.com is the perfect example of what not to do when designing a website. If you read this roverp6cars.com, thank you for a good laugh, the website was wonderfully horrible.
The best example of a company that uses design thinking methods to design their website is Apple. Their website is clean, precise, simple to use, properly spaced, features top selling products first, and is constantly updating to stay current with changing trends in the market. They watched as users of PC's struggled with their devices and software, recognizing that they were often too difficult to use and made the customer feel stupid. So instead of setting out to build the most complex website possible, with the most features and information they could fit on a webpage, they took a different approach. They clearly display that their products, like their website, are beautiful, work well, and are easy to use. And for these reasons they are loved by their customer base, and likely always will be.
Another great example of a well designed website is that of Toyota. Unlike Apple, Toyota's customer base is a bit broader, therefore it's design is intended to appeal to a broader audience. Toyota also does a great job of displaying it's beliefs it shares with its audience. Some examples of this on their website are the sponsorships it has with the US Olympic Committee posted next to the name Toyota. At Toyota, they realize their customers may be concerned about the company being un-American, so they squash this issue by showing clear support for an American cause that brings up little to no controversy. They also show articles about "Our American Journey" and other topics that would appeal to its American customers. Their website also does a great job of displaying products that are visually appealing and likely within reach of the customer's budget, while providing reasonable but not overwhelming amounts of information.
Unfortunately, not all companies think of the customer before designing a product, such as a website, to support said customers. Penny Juice, (or is it Penny O Juice?) is one of these unfortunate companies. It seems clear upon first glance at their website, that neither their website, nor product, where designed with the customer as the first and primary concern. Their website and name is confusing, the layout hasn't been thought through, the graphics are outdated, they proclaim no core values, and it all comes together to look like they just didn't care about design and simply wanted the ability to say they have a website. Instead the company should have first found an audience that may be interested in their product, shaped their product to fit that customer base, then built a website to cater to that demographic. While these ideas are vital to the design of the website from the start, having better spacing, a more clear message, and cleaner, newer graphics would also be an enormous improvement to the website.
While the website design for Penny Juice wasn't ideal, it's not nearly as poorly designed and executed as that of roverp6cars.com, otherwise known as MGBD Parts. Not only does their website lack any focus on a particular customer demographic, the design itself has no clear objective. Their dictation and grammar is deplorable, the coding work is sub-amature, all of their pages are cluttered, spacing is inconsistent, contrasting is atrocious, and the information provided does nothing more than confuse the viewer. For this website, I would completely start over with a new name for either the company, the website, or both, that exemplified some kind of purpose or meaning. Once the company had a name that was well understood, I would replace their navigation system of links with a drop menu that was consistent across all pages and conserved space. Once the navigation was sorted out, I would rewrite all content on the website so the average english speaker could read it and derive a point of some kind from the mess that currently exists. In essence, roverp6cars.com is the perfect example of what not to do when designing a website. If you read this roverp6cars.com, thank you for a good laugh, the website was wonderfully horrible.
I chose the exact same sites you did to analyze and I felt the same way, the Stanford-D design thinking process is something I have never known about and so I thank you for your input. I will explore this idea and see how that can be implemented in my business. Thanks, Troy!
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