Developing an engaging, effective website is no easy task, a fact I've come to realize through this course. You need content that grabs the visitor's attention and keeps it long enough to interest the user in the brand. Organizations can live and die online, so your website must generate business for you.
The ICA Boston has a website full of fabulous, engaging content that really pulls you in. The images are spectacular and the descriptions of exhibitions are inviting. But the site has a major design flaw - the online store doesn't sell tickets for general exhibit halls admission. This is true of both the web version and the mobile site. While the ICA does sell special event tickets online, they must be losing out on potential business from people who were turned off when they couldn't make the transaction online. For brick & mortar businesses, websites should aim to drive foot traffic through your doors, but limiting transactions to in-person only is a serious misstep.
The second offender is not so much one specific website, but an entire group - those developing with Flash as the primary development environment. My reasoning for this is that Flash just doesn't work on the iPhone, so these organizations are ignoring a large percentage of the mobile market, not to mention a growing percentage of the overall online market. Sure many sites that use flash on the web have a similar but different mobile version of the site, but the experience is completely different. Take Disney World's new Fantasyland, for example. The web version is dynamic, colorful, and fun - exactly what you'd want for a site that kids will want to explore. However, the mobile version is static and kind of boring. Any kid viewing this page on an iPad is going to be pretty unimpressed, and perhaps less enthusiastic about pestering his/her parents on where spend their next family vacation.
Creating an effective website is not simply about what looks good. It must be an extension of your business, and it must offer a consistent experience across multiple platforms. Many brands get it right, but sometimes even those with the most available resources get it wrong.
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