Revisiting the Web interface of the LasVegasWeekly.com

A little History
This past summer I was an intern for a local magazine that was in the beginning stages of going Web. Our Web site's interface pretty much sucked in terms of aesthetics/user-friendliness. So I made it a point to revisit it this past weekend and little has changed...

The LasVegasWeekly.com is run by the Greenspun Media Group which subsequently runs pretty much everything that makes big money in Vegas. So they have the means to hire the best people to design a Web site and the experience to make it look good. So why am I left with a critical eye and that gut feeling of dissatisfaction? Why isn't the Web site as chic looking as its competitors and enemies? I'm not quite sure.

Design Metaphors

"For the same reasons that schemas and metaphors give us power to conceptualize and reason, so they have power over us. Anything that we rely on constantly, unconsciously, and automatically is so much part of us that it cannot be easily resisted, in large measure because it is barely even noticed. To the extent that we use a conceptual schema or a conceptual metaphor, we accept its validity. Consequently, when someone else uses it, we are predisposed to accept its validity. For this reason, conventionalized schemas and metaphors have persuasive power over us." (Lakoff and Turner, 1989)

Ah yes, the power of metaphor, very important and very effective. When browsing through the LasVegasWeekly.com, I found little to no display of this. I am no sure if I am just slow and am not getting it, or if they think their users are slow and won't get it, or if it is there and I am just that slow user that they did not intend to get it. Either way this is what I see:

1-Too much text
2-Still too much text
3-The text itself is plain and scattered. It does not lead me to think about the nightlife/arts/culture of Vegas. It is plain blue and boring and nothing screams glitter/partying/booze/drugs and debauchery. Maybe Vegas has changed since I've lived there and it is a simpleton suburbia like the Web site suggests. WRONG.
4-Perhaps the busy text and little reliance on user interactivity and imagery does try to set up a metaphor for the content of the Site. Maybe its supposed to represent how busy and fast-moving this city actually is. And if this is the intent of the designers, they really need to get out more and display this more effectively.

Navigation System

Take a look at the Site Map

Does it catch your eye? Are you in the slightest way intrigued to click on the 70+ links?
My guess is probably no, but that's understandable, I mean how many Web designers really put a lot of their sweat and blood into the site map? That's supposed to be left for the actual Site.

Take a look at the Homepage

Granted there is a lot of content, but I feel as though the Site lacks organization. There are so many links, that if a user was not familiar with the magazine, they wouldn't really be pulled in any one direction. Perhaps the videos would catch their attention because it features a huge Play button and the only thing on the homepage which has moving images. Beyond that though, I don't feel the Site pulls the user in any one direction. This could be advantages because the user would not be "controlled" by the Site and have some freedom to browse around. However, I feel the navigation is so overwhelming it detracts users rather than keeping them going from 1 to 2 to 3 to hopefully 20 page views in one visit. Although I find the homepage a bit scattered, I suppose navigating it wouldn't be too much trouble. There are some new added icons for the Beautiful People contest and some pictures next to the feature stories. In terms of aesthetics, it still suffers for me.

Who is the intended audience?

The color scheme of this Site doesn't necessarily scream 18-35 year olds looking for good nightlife, fun, culture and arts in Vegas to me. But I feel the magazine has a broad audience, reaching kids as young as 14 and maybe adults as old at 50. However, if it is going to be competing with other Web sites which offer hundreds of newly uploaded pictures from the nightclub scene and videos of all the hot stuff going on in the city, then they really need to up their anti. Maybe this means using some black, some gold text, glitter - - jazz whatever. Vegas entertainment screams sex to me. And that doesn't mean that a barely clothed woman makes the cut. If its aim is to reach a broad audience but keep the prominent Web users coming (16-35 year olds) then I think the design interface is in need of a makeover.

Why I keep coming back
It's ashame to me that this site isn't designed effectively. The content of the articles, the impressive video editing, the interesting blogs are all great factors. However, the medium is everything. To me, this magazine is the best one in Vegas, they have a good message and they have talented people working behind every word you see. Perhaps as time goes on the actual design and medium will compliment the content rather than inhibit it.