I decided to do my first website review on the site ThinkGeek.com because I have been on their site many times because of their unqiue products based on movies and tv shows, their site from what I remember has always been very easy and fun to browse.
On their homepage I noticed that they have 3 lines of option bars to choose from. One helpfully shows categories of products and interests to choose from. Underneath these two drop down menus, is a full line of specific categories that would be helpful for people looking for new stock, buying a present, or celebrating a holiday. Lastly, the bar underneath that is a line of logos from various brands; Doctor Who, Star Wars, DC Comics and more. I found this part particularly helpful and eye appealing, it is one of the first things the eye comes to on the site and are the brands that people shop for the most.
For my item I chose to go into the Doctor Who section. I really liked their way of listing items, and the size of the thumbnails were perfect for getting an idea of what the product was, while not too big and not straining the eyes. One change I would make would be to shift the listing of the items further to the left and centering it to make it more comfortable to browse.
I found a comic book featuring the 9th doctor that I wanted and clicked on the link and had no trouble of finding the “Buy Now” button, because it was a different color and size than the rest of the text on the page. I liked this a lot about ThinkGeek and I think it makes the buying process easier. However, when I got to the cart page and clicked ‘continue shopping’ it sent me to a general book search page and not the original Doctor Who page I was on. I would have liked it to take me back to the original page I was coming from incase I wanted to purchase more things from the same brand.
Overall, I think the ThinkGeek site is good aesthetically and avoids making assumptions on gender in their design. The site has a good balance of color between black, grey, and green, and uses other colors to bring attention to other details that are important. The site also functions very well in design for people that are not familiar with their products, as it as helpful links and pictures to guide the shopping process forward.