For this week’s assignment in chapter 11, I chose to research and review car manufacturing websites. The three websites I found were Ford.com, Jeep.com and Subaru.com. Specifically within these websites I chose to focus on use of color in regards to site design. Ford.com was very colorful; the homepage is filled with multiple pictures of ford models. The main colors that stuck out to me were both red and blue. I think this is a great way to attract people because the colors red and blue are so contrasting that they stick out immediately. The pictures are displayed in a slideshow format and transition from trucks to sedans. The overall layout is very simple, yet intriguing enough to make a consumer want to dive further into the website. The ford company offers consumers options of designing a personal vehicle from the ground up or choosing from preselected models that are already designed. Overall navigation of the page seemed relatively simple, the company offers selections of vehicles based off of lifestyles or desired use. Of course at the very bottom of the home page is an index that offers users clear links to desired WebPages within Ford.com.
The second website I chose to review was Jeep.com. My initial reaction was somewhat unimpressed. Unlike ford, jeep had a single picture of multiple jeep models on display. The background of the main picture is somewhere on a mountain surrounded by trees presumably in an backcountry terrain. I felt that the impression jeep wanted to give off is that jeeps are very versatile and can be navigated easily in rugged terrain. Similarly to ford, they also offer different models based off of lifestyle. Some examples include a more off road version of the jeep for driving in the back country, on the other hand, they also offer more urban designs of the jeep with less of a focus on off roading. The main background color of the website is black, with grey writing down towards the bottom. Overall navigation of the website is easy and simple. At the bottom of the page, the website has an index for clear navigation of pages within Jeep.com.
The last website I chose to review was Subaru.com. The main background color they offered was a plain white, with black lettering for navigation at the top. On the bottom half of the page, the website has a black background for the index section with white lettering. The split between black and white coloring on the website helps for ease of maneuvering. Just like the other two websites, Subaru offers consumers a slideshow format of pictures of their different models of vehicles. A similarity I noticed with Subaru was the incorporation of back country driving or pictures of driving a Subaru in rugged terrain. This was very similar to the Jeep website. I felt that they shared similarities because their targeted consumers are people who like to drive anywhere. Specifically they aim at drivers who want to take their vehicle anywhere they can, whether that’s in deep snow or out on an open field or up in the mountains.
Overall, all three websites shared a number of similarities as well as sported a few individual characteristics. The main target of the websites was using colorful pictures to draw in consumers. Additionally the websites all offered the ability to design a personal vehicle from the ground up.