Before anyone says anything, I want to clarify that I don't know what goes into making websites like Amazon.com. I'm sure there's a ton of debate, design-by-committee, and tons of advertising requirements…
but I'm going to ignore all of those things and imagine that Amazon.com could be nice, simple, clean. It's probably too clean, and I'm absolutely sure it's missing a bunch of things some people would like to have. But for me, I wish Amazon was like this.
It's easy to take the position I have and ignore all the things that make up Amazon.com. They work hard on their site and employ however many people. I didn't put much thought into this. I only worked on it for an hour and a half. Don't read too much into it.
I believe it would be too damn simple to buy stuff.
Let's complicate everything, add some confusion and some not useful things to make things harder to the buyers, to make them think we worked hard on it.
It looks really nice, but if you take responsive design into regard, it feels more like a version on the iPhone or iPad for me. But still, I love the clean and simple layout :)
I'd guess that Amazon's design is way less design by committee and way more A/B testing to see what works. That said, I love how much more readable your font sizes are.
Conceptually and scope-wise, this is close to their (admittedly imperfect) iPhone app. I prefer the app to the website in almost every way. Good job, Louie!
This is a nice exercise Louie. I like the "boiled down" simplicity. This is the kind of shopping experience I would prefer to the current Amazon design (even the new redesign, which only shows up in Chrome for me).
Also, good call uploading the grid structure. I thought it was obvious as well, but it is always nice to see the thought behind the design.
Not to be a wet blanket, but it definitely shows only an hour and half's worth.
The logo doesn't need to be that prominent, There's not a whole lot of visual hierarchy between elements outside of scale, header elements seem too large and the Just For You feels little disjointed from the rest of the content. I'm all about letting products speak for themselves, but I don't feel like much else is talking here.
With that said, it's definitely a great exploration. The one thing it underlines is the amount of shit that makes it to the homepage.
If you were to spend more time on it, i would suggest it needs more recommendations, and previously viewed items. The ecommerce nature of Amazon demands access to potential purchases quicker. This design would only work for a small online shop with no more than 20-30 products.
@Dan Auer I believe that's why I said a few times in my original post not to read too much into it as it was a quick fun thing. I believe visual clarity is important. It's not that the logo needed to be larger on the screen but the weight of each object on the page in relation to each other is what makes a user interface clear. And I believe I achieved that in this design.
@Mischa Mclachlan I know you're half-trolling, but I agree with your statement about more relevant items on the page. In reality, I'd love to see an Amazon that has a front page completely catered to me without advertisements for unrelated products. (Example: I'm not interested in Just Dance, printers, or Kindles. Don't show them to me unless I go looking for them.)
@Louie Mantia Oh absolutely; I read the list of comments before I posted my own. Just wanted to give my own opinion on everything. I don't agree on the overall design, but if everyone agreed on everything we'd have really fucking boring design.
Moreover, I'm more stoked you had the balls to post something quickly made that was guaranteed to have a lot of discussion.
If I had it my way: http://cl.ly/E1S3 But this is only because this is how I get around Amazon. Maybe I would navigate different if they designed it better.
39 Responses (page 1 of 2)
Pro
Louie Mantia
Before anyone says anything, I want to clarify that I don't know what goes into making websites like Amazon.com. I'm sure there's a ton of debate, design-by-committee, and tons of advertising requirements…
but I'm going to ignore all of those things and imagine that Amazon.com could be nice, simple, clean. It's probably too clean, and I'm absolutely sure it's missing a bunch of things some people would like to have. But for me, I wish Amazon was like this.
View the full size too. :)
It's easy to take the position I have and ignore all the things that make up Amazon.com. They work hard on their site and employ however many people. I didn't put much thought into this. I only worked on it for an hour and a half. Don't read too much into it.
over 1 year ago
I hope Just Dance 3 is in your cart.
over 1 year ago
Pro
Christophe Tauziet
I believe it would be too damn simple to buy stuff.
Let's complicate everything, add some confusion and some not useful things to make things harder to the buyers, to make them think we worked hard on it.
over 1 year ago
Pro
Guillaume Gaubert
I guess I'd spend too much money on a website like that.
over 1 year ago
I wish it was real)
over 1 year ago
Pro
Kristy Marcinová
It looks really nice, but if you take responsive design into regard, it feels more like a version on the iPhone or iPad for me. But still, I love the clean and simple layout :)
over 1 year ago
it´s simple and useful for people who know what they want to buy. people who just want to browse may find it less exciting?...
your layout would be great for categories, like cameras etc. though...
over 1 year ago
Pro
Anders Drage
This is really nice! Good work Mantia
over 1 year ago
Pro
Brent Jackson
I'd guess that Amazon's design is way less design by committee and way more A/B testing to see what works. That said, I love how much more readable your font sizes are.
over 1 year ago
Pro
Klein Maetschke
Time for someone to make this a userstyle.
over 1 year ago
Pro
Jonathan Bowden
ignore the haters, and keep doing what you love!
over 1 year ago
Pro
Herson Rodriguez
Ohh yeah now we are talking
over 1 year ago
Pro
Anton Pawlik
very wired alignment inside the header bar
over 1 year ago
Conceptually and scope-wise, this is close to their (admittedly imperfect) iPhone app. I prefer the app to the website in almost every way. Good job, Louie!
over 1 year ago
Pro
Louie Mantia
@Anton Pawlik Weird alignment? What elements do you find to be misaligned?
over 1 year ago
What is your design improving upon?
What was the problem you addressed?
I don't see it.
Try adding some more design perhaps! :-p
over 1 year ago
Pro
Anton Pawlik
@Louie Mantia http://www.abload.de/img/y4ebz2.png
over 1 year ago
Pro
Louie Mantia
@Anton Pawlik I gotta be honest with you, a lot of those lines seem pretty arbitrary and seem to ignore the main structure of the page which seems pretty obvious to me: http://dribbble.com/shots/416750-Amazon-com/attachments/24211
over 1 year ago
This is a nice exercise Louie. I like the "boiled down" simplicity. This is the kind of shopping experience I would prefer to the current Amazon design (even the new redesign, which only shows up in Chrome for me).
Also, good call uploading the grid structure. I thought it was obvious as well, but it is always nice to see the thought behind the design.
over 1 year ago
Not to be a wet blanket, but it definitely shows only an hour and half's worth.
The logo doesn't need to be that prominent, There's not a whole lot of visual hierarchy between elements outside of scale, header elements seem too large and the Just For You feels little disjointed from the rest of the content. I'm all about letting products speak for themselves, but I don't feel like much else is talking here.
With that said, it's definitely a great exploration. The one thing it underlines is the amount of shit that makes it to the homepage.
over 1 year ago
If you were to spend more time on it, i would suggest it needs more recommendations, and previously viewed items. The ecommerce nature of Amazon demands access to potential purchases quicker. This design would only work for a small online shop with no more than 20-30 products.
Your header bar is nice though.
over 1 year ago
Pro
Eric Hoffman
I can tell you by first hand experience from when I worked for a big ecommerce company, it was for sure "design-by-committee."
I think this is clean and a nice concept, but would would be hard to convince the camel design crew ;)
over 1 year ago
Pro
Louie Mantia
@Dan Auer I believe that's why I said a few times in my original post not to read too much into it as it was a quick fun thing. I believe visual clarity is important. It's not that the logo needed to be larger on the screen but the weight of each object on the page in relation to each other is what makes a user interface clear. And I believe I achieved that in this design.
@Mischa Mclachlan I know you're half-trolling, but I agree with your statement about more relevant items on the page. In reality, I'd love to see an Amazon that has a front page completely catered to me without advertisements for unrelated products. (Example: I'm not interested in Just Dance, printers, or Kindles. Don't show them to me unless I go looking for them.)
over 1 year ago
@Louie Mantia Oh absolutely; I read the list of comments before I posted my own. Just wanted to give my own opinion on everything. I don't agree on the overall design, but if everyone agreed on everything we'd have really fucking boring design.
Moreover, I'm more stoked you had the balls to post something quickly made that was guaranteed to have a lot of discussion.
over 1 year ago
Pro
Eric Hoffman
If I had it my way: http://cl.ly/E1S3
But this is only because this is how I get around Amazon. Maybe I would navigate different if they designed it better.
I still like what you have done :)
over 1 year ago