The Facebook homepage is directed towards many different varieties of audiences. The primary variation in audience demographics, however, is age. Facebook needs to appeal to both the younger and older generations and the same time. The purpose of the home page (when not logged in, of course) is to encourage users to sign up for the Facebook service, so it needs to present the value of the service to encourage users to sign up. To achieve this, the Facebook system develops every aspect of RIBS, it provides renumeration by highlighting the user’s activity and emphasizing their existence within the network and the effect they have upon the network. Influence is supported by the concept of ‘Likes’ and the concept of social action that has developed through the proliferation of mass Facebook groups, pages, and events. Belonging is emphasized by the subtle but constant reminder of the number of friends the user has and the ingenious mechanism of “Suggested Friends” presented in the sidebar. And finally, significance is created by combining all of these elements with the concept of the user’s profile, a very detailed and intimate representation of who they are, to firmly establish their sense of self-importance in the network.

However, despite all this convincing argument, Facebook struggles against some ethical failings. They are notorious for questionable privacy policies that give Facebook near-unlimited rights to the content users post to the network and indemnify Facebook against virtually every legal action available. Facebook has made itself near-immune to prosecution and convinced its users to provide it with incredibly private, personal information without any restrictions to what it can do with that information. I would call that an ethical nightmare.

Finally there is the deliver itself. Facebook’s entire style is characterized by a clean, meticulous approach to visual design. The site is defined by sans-serif typefaces and a general objectified style, emphasizing Facebook’s role as merely a service to be used, diminishing their role as a critical broker of incredibly private information. The blue color scheme and clean, balanced design create a simple, objective foundation upon which the user imprints themselves, and it is this imprinting of private information that Facebook would then sell to third parties that is dangerous.

Now I don’t want to seem biased, but I’m once again going to pick a Fuzzco product for analysis, except this time it’s their Facebook page, not a billboard they made. Yes, you guessed it, I’m analyzing Fuzzco’s Facebook page.

Their page serves a fairly specific purpose: to represent the company to prospective clients, employees, and the casual passerby.

Prospective clients are looking for three things: they want to know what the company has done, with the link to the website providing a resource for learning what Fuzzco has done; they want to know how the company works, with the ‘About’ blurb providing a pithy statement about what Fuzzco does and how they do it; and lastly they want to understand the company itself, also covered by the statement and the website linked to.

Now, often companies project an image of culture and methodology quite different from reality. Speaking from experience working for them, this is not the case for Fuzzco. They are just as hardworking, talented, creative, and fun-loving as the Facebook page (and website) makes them seem.

There isn’t much to talk about with the regard to delivery and visual communication. Thankfully they’ve (and I’m guessing Helen manages this) stuck to Facebook standards and kept the information presentation simple and straightforward. Also, the gorgeous logo matches the color scheme of their website (#F72E2A red).

From the RI part of RIBS, the page offers a benefit for Fuzzco by maintaining a positive presence on Facebook and for everyone else by bringing a taste of their awesomeness to the sphere of Facebook. Influence-wise, Fuzzco is definitely part of the 1% portion—the creators—that bring new content to the network. The web wouldn’t be the same without them.

37signals (37signals.com) is a small (but quickly growing) company that develops web-based project management, contact management, document sharing, and group chat software for individuals and businesses. Their company culture is centered around a striving for simplicity, efficiency (zero meetings), and a sort of frankness. Their website is designed to both communicate their nature as a company and the products they produce. The audience they target varies from individuals interested in the company itself to people looking for the products, so the design is centered around providing answers to both those questions as immediately as possible: the description of the company and the products are both displayed prominently above the fold.

From a visual standpoint, I think it’s a very pretty page. Fairly good typography (although the headings could use a bit more leading and kerning in places and the product rectangles feel a bit chrome-y and heavy in relation to the more spartan type and other imagery).

A large part of 37signals’ marketing tactics focuses on sharing the customers they have, instead of the products themselves, and it are these tactics that are the most ethically questionable and lacking in evidence. Although their products may be used by teams within the large companies they list as customers, it is incredibly doubtful that those entire corporations use their software. It’s not an outright lie, but it is a bit of a distortion of the truth.

Now I don’t mean to be negative towards the home page. As far as corporate home pages go, this stands out above and beyond the rest for effectively recognizing the audience it needs to cater to and delivers the information that audience needs extremely quickly, which is exactly what corporate home pages need to do. People don’t go to them for content or an experience, they go to them for information about the corporation itself, which 37signals’ home page definitely provides.

Newegg is a popular online reseller of electronics, with a focus on computer hardware, including both external and internal components. The audience they advertise almost exclusively to are system builders (people who construct their own computers from a variety of aftermarket parts) and consumer electronics enthusiasts. Many of these system builders decide to build their own computers from scratch to try to achieve the optimum combination of price and power, so Newegg works hard to advertise their discounted merchandise as much as possible, sending out promotional emails almost daily to customers, this is just one of those many emails.

Newegg is very customer-oriented (for example they work hard to resolve any problems customers may have with defective products), and that comes through in their marketing material. Compared to Amazon and other companies, which focus their energy on customer analysis (often sending you emails about products similar to those you had looked at a day ago, which can be a bit unsettling at times), Newegg spends time making sure their marketing pieces are experiences, often throwing in a cheesy seasonal theme, pop culture reference, or other bit of wit into their advertisements. They understand that the audience they are marketing to is a well-informed about the hardware and devices that Newegg trying to sell, so they eschew fanciness or cleanliness in design, instead creating information-dense catalogues of accurate specifications (the page you see if you follow the “See All Deals” link, and also the link this post points to (click on the title)). Their argument is about as data-driven as possible; essentially it’s ‘buy our stuff because it’s cheap,’ backed by a great reputation of customer service and honesty in business.

This is marketing for people that want to be convinced by the numbers, not by the image. It’s not trying to create an image or lifestyle, it’s about getting the most bang for the buck. There’s no disclaimers at the bottom, besides the fact that the codes are valid until the 28th of September (and a little bit of small type about the Verbatim blank media deal). Their policy of connecting with customers is evident at the bottom, they list some social media connections, as well as their customer service phone availability, email address, and even a postal address to write letters to them! Amazon and Apple’s marketing emails have at least twice the small type at their footers, and they definitely don’t encourage you to get in touch with them. Newegg is pushing not only their electronics deals, but also their image as a company that cares.

The billboard was designed by my friends at Fuzzco for the new Cane Bay development in Summerville. Being a new development in a location that is relatively far outside the Charleston area, it was essential for them to ensure that potential purchasers would feel like they would have the same convenience that a more urban property would have. The audience was clearly new families looking for a home to put down roots in. The color scheme is warm and inviting, with the serif book typeface and dictionary-definition-style message emphasizing the idea of the neighborhood being a place for kids to grow up in. According to Fuzzco, the message was “that by living in Cane Bay you turn car time into family time,” which the billboard conveys succinctly and with the wit that modern young parents will appreciate.

I can’t believe the copy I wrote for Excellencico ended up on Clients From Hell!

clientsfromhell:

An anonymous reader writes in to tell us about the How Low Can Your Logo contest. In true crowd source fashion, participants compete to design shitty logos for Excellencico, “a global leader in providing a focused, broad range of services to a world-class, international, region-centric…