Sean Johnson - Intentionally - The Education of Sean Johnson

The extremely talented Andy Rutledge weighed in on the home page design for auction mega-giant eBay earlier today. His analysis was pretty thorough, and he managed to take a page that was extremely cluttered and hone in on what he felt were the most important pieces.

Andy does a great job of focusing on creating a “usable” site - reducing the number of competing elements, being consistent with links, etc. But while he does quite a bit to create a page that adheres to the guidelines put forth by the many usability experts in the marketplace, the focus on structural usability leads to a site that ignores some other factors that can lead to a good experience.

Andy’s effort is below - I dig the rounded corners, the use of color, and the overall simplified look:

The biggest issue I have relates to the use of language, or more specifically the lack of language. While a site that is superfluous makes for a subpar experience, a lack of language can leave people wondering what to do. All it takes are a few well-chosen words to orient the visitor and give them a sense of what your space on the web is about - and how it can help them.

I also found the search box troubling. eBay recognizes (and probably has the research to back it up) that some people search while others browse. Leaving the site’s ‘departments’ out of the site would likely cost you a number of visitors, since the categories give the buyer an idea of what’s available to them. It’s the same reason blogs and social networking applications have embraced the concept of tagging - you might not be sure what you’re looking for immediately, and it’s often fun to just poke around.

Seth Godin talked years ago about the concept of a ‘banana’ - making it very clear what you want to draw the visitor’s attention to. While I agree with Andy that the gift guide promotion is a bit overkill, it remains a much more important ‘banana’ for the visitor than the ‘featured items.’ Banking on a list of random products (real estate near the Grand Canyon, a banjo, etc.) to reel visitors in isn’t likely to succeed. A promotion that appeals to everyone (Christmas shopping) serves as a much more suitable lead-in.

Reading Andy’s submission got me thinking about how I’d handle such a redesign. Given that I’ve had a few days to relax, my brain has felt slightly recharged, compelling me to take a similar crack at it. As I mentioned, I liked a ton of what Andy did. I tried to work with his first effort and improve it since he’s done a lot of quality work already. After incorporating my suggestions above, my humble submission is as follows:

I’d love to hear your thoughts - feel free to pick it apart, continue to improve it, or go in a completely different direction. Exercises like this are good ways to refine one’s eye for sites that are not only functional, but effective. I thank Andy for giving me something very solid to work with, as well as for the inspiration to tackle such an interesting design scenario.