This week this WStudio - Elan Skis site caught my eye. I think they did a great job of integrating video as an education and branding tool. I also like the concept of navigation that gets dragged and dropped. Click here to view WStudio's site >>
What do you think???
My only negative comment is on the side drag. Just seems like to much work for users, and there are some issues with collapsing it as well. Also, the actor in the intro didn’t work for me.
– the navigation feature increases the viewable area on the page.
– the creative is visually appealing
Downside:
1. the navigation (imo) increases the effort of the user to get to the point of interest without really adding anything to the experience. for example, the following steps were taken to get from the “home” page to the product info:
a. click the bottom “Elegance” nav (any product info? no)
b. drag the top “Elegance” nav (any product info? no)
(if the nav feature isn’t dragged to a certain point, it rolls back up like a pesky window shade)
c. drag the right side “Elegance” nav (any product info? some)
d. click the link next to product of interest
2. the navigation is potentially excluding users with impaired mobility
3. it’s not apparent what the site is about initially. what are they selling?
4. The lady in the intro is odd to me. Not sure why.
Suggestions:
1. I think the navigation would be cool to use in a persona-based story about the product.
2. Offer an alternate method of navigation such as a site map.
3. Offer clicking the nav feature as well as the dragging
4. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. 🙂
that’s it. i think it’s a really pretty site.