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| Dr. Dog in all their glory |
Main Page
The main graphic is cute/clever but I feel like the designer needed to take the idea to the next level. I am all for Venn Diagrams but when they're not interactive it's a total buzz kill! It would be brilliant if visitors could click on the individual circles in order to navigate further into the site. Maybe this graphic is some "hip" joke I don't understand...but to me it seems like an unnecessary step visitors have to take to get to the core information.
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| Venn Diagram Main Page |
The site is easy to navigate with simple tabs on the top right hand corner. The individual pages stream the verbage down the left hand side and feature "cutsie" pictures of the band off to the right side. The bright, "goldenrod" notebook paper background help the words pop out of the page however, the lines on the paper run into the paragraphs causing visual traffic jams. The social media buttons and contact information can be found at the very bottom left of the page appearing as an after thought to the site. The layout is overall very boring and could use some rearranging based on the way people tend to scroll through websites, because let's face it...visitors aren't going to sift through the content word for word.
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| Tabs, cute pix, notebook paper, traffic jam |
which brings me to the next evaluation of.....
Content:
For a band that's had a great deal of success...you wouldn't know it by visiting their site. I understand that they want to keep their indie-cred by being concise and to the point but it comes off as unprofessional. There is no music player which is nice because it doesn't blast your ears off when you initially open the page but there is no central location to have a listen. Under the "Music" tab are super old Mp3s that open as a Quicktime page, navigating visitors away from the site. The only plus is that the Mp3 files are also free downloads (better than nothing, right?).
Surprisingly, the "Mailing List" tab is solid and the newsletters featured are up to date but then I click the "Media" tab and become sad. There is one video among a few links but nothing impressive, not even their latest music video, "Shame, Shame." I do dig the section that states, "Videos We Didn't Make" featuring links to things the band finds funny/interesting...it's a nice touch. The "Merch" store is just fine along with the Tour page, but the "About" could use major work. Paragraph after paragraph goes on and on about the band and is written more like a Wikipedia page than a breathtaking biography that makes me want to give them a listen. To end on a good note, the "Home" tab is a lovely gesture where the band drops by and writes a quick blurb to the fans about the latest Dr. Dog news. The content is overall very inconsistent and could use someone hitting the refresh button and to update everything.
Aesthetic
Dr. Dog defiantly has major indie swagga and it peaks out of the design of their site but, like the main page's Venn Diagram, it needs amped up. The handwritten font, earthy warm tones, and notebook paper background are all great ideas that uphold the band's image of "modern hip meets vintage hippie mountain men" but I feel like I'm looking at a rough draft. I wish the text would align on the notebook paper background and really run with the idea that everything was handwritten in a moving car. Instead, the notebook lines are wavy and the words are completely straight across like they were typed in a Word document. The words even feed over into the margin of the notebook paper which, if I remember correctly, was a BIG no-no in elementary school. Also, the lines of the paper are just as bold as the typography causing for more concentration than needed to decipher the text. Overall, the look of the site needs a good spring cleaning and some serious Windex to make it sparkle like I know it can.
KGC
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