Introduction
Websites are a part of our daily lives, but how frequently do we consider whether they are well-designed for users? In this assignment, I reviewed the Microsoft.com website using Dieter Ram’s Ten Design Principles and other user experience (UX) principles I learned in class to analyze how effectively this brand designed its popular website.
Microsoft’s Ram: Ten Keys to a Successful Design
1. Innovative: ★★★★★
PROS: Microsoft’s site displays some of the newer preferences in web design today, like simple background colors, limited text, toggle buttons, carousel displays, and a wide array of visual images. This website appears to be fully knowledgeable about what’s “in” at the moment and has plenty of room to upgrade when newer styles arise.
2. Creates Product Usefulness: ★★★★☆
PROS: Descriptions and filters highlight the best qualities of the products and why customers should purchase them, and videos run through exactly what qualities make the products worth the cost.
CONS: The site is lacking the ability for products to speak for themselves, as photos tell little about their usefulness without supplementary captions.
3. Aesthetic: ★★★★☆
PROS: In most cases, Microsoft.com has succeeded in creating a beautiful website. The homepage has a simple but effective color pallet that adds rhythm, and clear visual hierarchy with headers and sub-headers is easily distinguishable. Tasteful videos and carousel photos of differing heights add visual appeal.
CONS: While effective, the aesthetics of the page can feel stifled with its limited color range.
4. Creates Product Understanding: ★★★★★
PROS: It’s the company’s job to answer customers’ questions in a clear way, something that this website accomplishes perfectly. Microsoft’s designers make it simple to learn about Microsoft’s numerous products, offering several places like the AI chat bot, the many header and footer links, and a search bar for consumers to find information. Additionally, what customers find fulfills their needs.
5. Unobtrusive: ★★★★★
PROS: Unlike other popular websites, Microsoft.com doesn’t seem to push itself on its users. Nothing is overly flashy or loud, and customers can easily find what they need, perform the task, and leave without feeling as if they’re walking in a shouting match. The simplicity of the design makes the user experience more enjoyable and less of a hassle, personifying the “don’t make me think” concept perfectly.
6. Honest: ★★★★☆
PROS: Can a for-profit company website be honest? In terms of making supportable and truthful claims, Microsoft.com comes close with relatively genuine product presentations. General information about products is supportable, and the presentation of merchandise isn’t misleading.
CONS: The website uses a fair share of exaggeration. No matter how much someone enjoys their computers and software, some of the language used in Microsoft’s descriptions sound more like a cure-all than new technology.
7. Long-lasting: ★★☆☆☆
CONS: With Microsoft’s innovation in mind, how timeless is the design itself? In this category, Microsoft.com has left the door open for future improvements. However, the current design’s use of dark themes and minimalist spaces feels too modern-day to transfer effortlessly into the future.
8. Consistently Thorough: ★★★★★
PROS: As we learned in class, it’s easier to tell when a website gets it wrong than when they get it right. In the case of Microsoft.com, it’s clear the designers wanted the site layout to be as straightforward and uniform as possible. Each product is clearly labeled in the header and footer, and every page follows the overall theme. The entire website is well-designed and equally meets customers’ needs.
9. Environmentally Friendly: ★★★★☆
PROS: While no information is covered regarding how Microsoft’s website is environmentally friendly, Microsoft has a section of its site dedicated to how it is cutting down on the environmental costs of its products. Restoring water, preventing unnecessary waste, and preserving land, Microsoft isn’t shy about sharing its attempts to minimize the footprint their company (and by extension, website) is leaving behind.
10. Minimizes Design ★★★★★
PROS: “Less is more” is a common phrase in the design industry, and maintaining a crisp, clean web face with little visual noise prevents users from being overwhelmed by too much content, color, or action. Designers at Microsoft followed through perfectly in this department. Background colors are simple and soft, proper distance between content is evident, and the simplicity of the design is one of the reasons it is so easy to navigate.
Conclusion
Like many websites, Microsoft.com has its strengths and pitfalls. What the commercial site lacks in complete honesty and longevity, it makes up for with ease-of-use, consistent thoroughness, unobtrusiveness, innovation, and a positive user experience. For this reason, Microsoft.com, when analyzed using Dieter Ram’s Ten Design Principles and other UX ideas, is a well-designed website with a handful of possible realms of improvement.
