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Questions for Website Critique

Navigation / Focus:

Does the design have a focal point?

What is your first impression? How does the designer use color and layout to make the site appealing and engaging?

What kind of navigation does the site use: main navigation, sub-navigation, drop-down menu, fly-out menus, image maps?

Is the navigation clear?

How many links are in the navigation? Are there too many?



Target Audience:

Who is the websites target audience?

What is the theme or concept behind the site?
Does the concept match the content? Do they reinforce each other?

Is the site effective in engaging the audience?



Usability:

Is the website's interface and navigation intuitive and effective?

Is the site coherent and consistent throughout?

Does the website effectively use hierarchy to organize the content?

Is the hierarchy helpful to navigate the content?

Does the navigational structure allow the user to find content quickly and efficiently?

Do interactive navigation and elements add or detract from the user experience?



Visual Communication:

Contrast (Examples: color to produce contrast, size contrast, focus or not in focus)

Alignment (Examples: vertical, horizontal, justified, centered (passive alignment)

Repetition (theme or elements from page to page, coherence to achieve a consistent theme. How much repetition and how much variety do you want?)

Proximity (relationships between elements, between sub-heads and paragraphs or images and captions, grouping of images and elements)



Multimedia:

How does the site use multimedia such as text, photo stills, video, audio and graphics?

How fast does the site load?

Are the photos well toned and sharpened, saved for the web?



Typography:

Typography on the web has been traditionally been limited to common PC and MAC system fonts.

Is there a noticeable difference between the "Display Type" and "Body Copy?"

Does the typographical choices reinforce the design theme and aesthetics? example: modern sans-serif vs. a formal more classic serif?

Does the site break the design rule of using no more than 2 or 3 typefaces?