Designing a Web Site With Active Cool People
Posted by Martin Wessel on Mon, Jan 24, 2011
So far we've looked at web sites that try to generate traffic and leads by creating a mood, and sites that try to generate traffic and sales by highlighting products. This time around we're going to look at web site design that uses action to convey a message.
Because these sites feature people, it's easier for a visitor to put themselves in the place of the people on the site.
Information Site: United States Tennis Association
An example of an organization using a people approach would be the United States Tennis Association. The USTA is an organization that promotes tennis as exercise, a social activity, and a sport at all age and ability levels. Because of this their site is packed with pictures of people playing tennis and advice on how to play better. Even the drop down menus include pictures of people playing tennis. And while there is an emphasis on very athletic, semi-pro, and even professional players in the images, there are plenty of kids and amateur players featured. The consistent image, however, is of actual players active in the sport. This ties in well with the personal message of getting involved in tennis.
Information Site: United States Navy
The US Navy site reinforces it's slogan "A Global Force for Good" by showing members of that force in a number of different roles. The "Careers and Jobs" section especially shows members of the Navy at work.
Some of the images do look posed, but many images are more natural and show a broad range of activities.
More importantly for a social type site are the prominent links to many Facebook communities the Navy has created. These communities also include pictures of members and links to other communities.
What this means for your site
Everybody wants to feel like they belong, that they're part of a group. You can leverage this desire by showing your customers using your product. For example, a cigar store would show people smoking their product, or a car dealership would show people driving their cars. What you're trying to do is create a community, and then creating a drive to join that community. That works better for some sites than others, of course, but if you have a focused service or product you can almost certainly create an Active site for Cool People.
What do you think? Would a Cool Activity site work for you?