Week 10: Inquiry Activity – The Visual Consumer (ASOS)

For this week’s inquiry activity we were to consider ourselves as visual consumers of a website/brochure/magazine. I chose to review and the ASOS fashion website in relation to this week’s study guide.

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Logo

The study guide, supported by further research, suggests that the most effective logos are those that have a simple message and a simple design. In the case of ASOS, this is most certainly the case.

The logo has been clearly designed with simplicity in mind, using only the two contrasting colours of black and white, in what could be described as a ‘cursive’ or ‘decorative’ font. While the use of text will be discussed later in this blog post, the sheer size and boldness of the lettering in the logo make the use of this font acceptable as a logo typeface (Ames 2015; Clancy & Krieg 2009). Additionally, Janiszewski (2001) suggests that logos are most successful when they appear timeless in design. In this case, the logo is both easily recognisable and effective in its message in advertising ASOS as a place to ‘discover fashion online’.

Colour/White Space/Balance

Smith (2015) is one of the most important features in successful marketing and advertising. Colour on the ASOS website, is used in a number of ways to both aid the visual presentation of the items and available, and also to present a distinct stylistic tone throughout the website. While the use of colour is largely limited to the use of black and white (specifically in the creation of white-space) pops of colour are used throughout the website to draw the views eye to key points of interest and to create visual balance.

On this home page we can see deliberate attempts to draw the reader’s eye to the ‘mint green’ section of the top of the website (which is advertising the current sale) and also pops of blue colour to the bottom right (linking users to both the women’s and men’s clothing sections). Moreover, the predominant use of black and white colour, also allows the image of the models to ‘pop’ highlighting their clothing. Seonsu and Barnes (1989) argues that colour is one of the most critical elements of successful advertising websites, particularly in the fashion industry.

Font

The study guide suggests that fonts are crucial in not only setting the context of written work, but also in the delivery and receiving of messages (Ames 2015). In the case of the ASOS website, all three examples of font types (Serif fonts, Sans Serif fonts and cursive fonts) are used throughout the website.

For instance, the website primarily uses ‘cursive’ fonts to highlight key messages. Almost always displayed in larger type sizes, these examples conform the standards outlined through-out the study guide.

Alternatively, Sans Serif fonts are used throughout the website, primarily in the descriptions of items for purchase. Where this type face can be used for ‘headlines’, it may also be appropriately used as ‘caption’ text – as seen within the image below (Ames 2015). This again, conforms the expectations highlighted throughout the study guide.

Finally, the use of Serif fonts are used throughout the website to display important points of interest, in an easy to read font. The primary example of this may be seen on the homepage, where the site’s key navigational links are written in Times New Roman.

Photos/Graphics

As a clothing website, there are many examples of photos of items on sale. Each of these images are thoughtfully labelled, complimentary the imagery used. The only other real graphics on the website are promotional images of models wearing clothes from the website – which again, reinforces the messages and intent of ASOS.

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References

Ames, K 2015, Week 10 – Impact of Design and Structure, COMM11007: Media Writing, CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

ASOS n.d., ASOS – Home Page, viewed 16 September 2015, http://www.asos.com/au/?hrd=1

Birkner, C 2015, ‘What’s your type?’ Marketing News, vol. 49, no. 7, pp. 10-11.

Clancy, K, & Krieg, P 2009, ‘Five marketing tips’, Sales & Service Excellence, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 6.

Janiszewski, C 2001, ‘Effects of brand logo complexity, repetition, and spacing on processing fluency and judgment’, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 18-32.

Seonsu, L, & Barnes, J 1989, ‘Using color preferences in magazine advertising’, Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 25-30.

Smith, J 2015, ‘It’s a color-coded world’, Marketing Insights, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 18-19.