This document provides a critique of the SMU website homepage. It analyzes various design and functionality elements, including: 1. The logo could be higher quality as the current one looks blurry. 2. Significant white space is unused and could express the brand identity or include additional content. 3. Navigation shortcuts are confusing due to ambiguous naming that won't be understood by new users. 4. The contact section is not noticeable enough. The critique provides recommendations in each area, such as using plain language over system names for shortcuts, optimizing search functionality, simplifying persona navigation, adding more engaging content, and ensuring key information like events and notices are clear and easy to access.

1. Homepage Critique
for the SMU website
Greg Thomas - gmthomas@smu.edu.sg

2. SMU Home Page

3. Design First
Impression
 What’s the overall
impression of the
design of the web
site?

4. Everything is relative, so let’s
benchmark the design impression
against other sites.

5. Target Audience: Kids

6. Target Audience: Prospective University Students

7. Target Audience:
Marketing Managers

8. Target Audience: Young Adults

9. Target Audience: Trendsetters

10. Target Audience:
Younger Adults

11. Target Audience:
Young adults with cancer

12. Target Audience: Teenagers

13. Target Audience: Business Managers

14. Target Audience:
Technology Managers

15. Target Audience:
Tech Managers

16. Target Audience:
Prospective University
Students

17. Target Audience: Tourists to France (Adults)

18. Target Audience: University Students

19. Target Audience:
Bird Watchers

20. Target Audience:
Young Adults

21. Target Audience: Advertisement Managers

22. Target Audience:
Pet Owners

23. Target Audience:
Banking Clients

24. Design First
Impression
 Corporate looking
personality
 It looks more like
a traditional bank
website than
anything else.
 Perhaps a little
boring.
A bit busy
(complex) makes it
hard to know
where to prioritize
focus.

25. Brand Personality
Brand Personality
Sincerity Excitement Competence Sophistication Ruggedness
•Down to earth
•Honest
•Wholesome
•Cheerful
•Daring
•Spirited
•Imaginative
•Up-to-date
Source: (Aaker, 1997)
•Reliable
•Intelligent
•Successful
•Upper class
•Charming
•Outdoorsy
•Tough
What personality is the site portraying.

26. Brand Personality
Brand Personality
Sincerity Excitement Competence Sophistication Ruggedness
•Down to earth
•Honest
•Wholesome
•Cheerful
•Daring
•Spirited
•Imaginative
•Up-to-date
(Aaker, 1997)
•Reliable
•Intelligent
•Successful
•Upper class
•Charming
•Outdoorsy
•Tough
What personality do we want the site to portray? (up for debate)

27. What about the functionality of the
website?
Lets take a look at the web page functions, and examine each facet in detail.

28. SMU Home Page

29. Identity+
Home Nav
Navigation
Shortcuts Search
Contact
Feature
Urgent Notice
Timely Content
Legal Notices
White Space
White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
Navigation to Business Units
Brand Identity
Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
Navigation
By Persona
Below
the
fold
Above
the
fold
Functionality
A breakout of
the Home Page
functionality
Notebook screen

30. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
What’s Missing?
 Does the page
inspire?
 Is their a logical
hierarchy to the site?
 Is navigation clear?
 Is information
findable?
 Does the user (by
persona) know where
to begin?
 Does the page use
defacto standards?
 Are page
subsections well
identified?
 Does the page
optimize search
engine rankings?
 Are there shortcuts
for experts?
 Is it obvious what’s
clickable?
 Is important
information identified
as such?
10.

31. 1.
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
15. Legal Notices
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
10.
Critique
1. Identity & Home
Navigation
 The logo tells
visitors where they
are and as such is
typically the first
thing visitors to the
website seek.
 The logo image is
blurry and that
gives an impression
of a low quality
brand.
11. White Space

32. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2.
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
2. White Space:
This white space is
dead space which
could be used to
express brand
identity.
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

33. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3.
5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
3. Navigation
Shortcuts:
 Shortcuts are
confusing due to
unclear naming.
 Prospective students
will not understand
these are for intranet
navigation.
 New users (staff,
students, teachers,
researchers) will not
understand the
options due to
ambiguous naming
(eWise, SMUVista,
Oasis, OnTrac).
 Plainspeak naming
works better than
fanciful naming. For
example, use “intranet
portal” generic naming
instead of eWise
which is a system
name.
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

34. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4.
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
4. Contact Us:
The contact us
navigation is not
noticeable. (After a
year of using the
page I only realize
it is there during
this analysis).
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

35. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5.
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
5. Search:
 The search field
could use smart
search.
 Search should not
pop-up in a net
window.
 The search return
results is not well
optimized. I have
better luck using
Google.
 Button name
should be “GO” not
search to simplify..
 Search could be
delimited by “web”
and “people” with a
radio button
defaulted on “web”.
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

36. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6.
Critique
6. Persona
Navigation:
 The personas are
not well defined.
 Graduate student
prospects are
abandoned.
 Too many options
can confuse new
users.
 Navigation is
vertical which is
less optimal than
horizontal
navigation.
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

37. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7.
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
7. Brand Identity
 The brand identity
takes prime space
on the website, but
delivers little in
terms of driving
brand identity which
is generally
accomplished by
revealing the story
of the brand.
 The image is
static which can
cause wearout
(boredom).
 The image does
not feature the
thing that people
connect most
deeply with, and
that’s people.
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

38. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8.
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
8. Navigation to
Business Units:
 This navigation
bar takes several
seconds to load,
which defeats ease
of use for expert
users,
 Its not readily
apparent this is an
alternative
navigation bar (it
took me months to
realize).
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

39. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
9. Navigation to
Overview,
Directories,
Programs ,
Schools &
Research:
 Making this
navigation serve the
needs of everyone
means no single user
group (persona) is well
served.
 Internal users and
external users are
mixed (causing
confusion).
 Resources for
internal users are best
left to gateway pages.
 IITS is in the centres
submenu, which is
misclassification.
 Home button is
duplicative, as the
defacto standard is to
use the site ID as a
home button.
10.
9.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

40. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
10. News:
 Ideally a front
page with content
acts as a teaser,
like a magazine
cover, for people to
want to learn more.
Inspiration and
updates can be
used well for this
but timely updates
are often better left
to One-2-One
comm like email
(click-through rates
can help confirm).
 There is no
section header so
people do not know
the function of this
page region.
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

41. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
15. Legal Notices
11.
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
11. White Space:
 This is dead
space.
 It could be used
for more features,
imagery, social
media integration,
student news,
Podcast, and a
zillion other things.
As of now it does
nothing.
10.

42. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12.
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
12. Features:
 The features
space is too small,
 The feature does
not convey why to
click, one only
learns if they
mouse over that it
is a clickable
region.
 When selected it
spawns a new
window (worst
practice).
 A leader like
“Discover our
milestones...” could
get people to click-
through. Or “tell us
your experience
with SMU” is even
better.
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space

43. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13.
14. Timely Content
15. Legal Notices
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
13. Urgent
Notices:
 It would be goo d
to call this “Urgent
Notices” so people
get used to seeking
information there.
 As I write this the
email service is
down today. It
would be good to
have system status
updates on this
section so we know
when to expect
service outages to
be fixed.
10.
11. White Space

44. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14.
15. Legal Notices
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
14. News and
Events:
 How is this section
different from the
section 10? (it should
be apparent from
naming).
 This is listed as
“News & Events” but
only events are listed.
 The events listing is
cramped and does not
indicate which
audience should
attend (students,
academics, business
community).
 An event highlight
area could feature top
upcoming public
events.
 Selecting an event
spawns a new window
(worst-practice).
 Many public events
are not listed.
10.
11. White Space

45. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
15.
11. White Space
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
15. Notices: This
section provide
additional fields
that are commonly
used such as a
“contact us” and
“emergency
information”, and
“site credits”.
 Some additional
features such as
“make a gift,” &
“accredition” may
be of use.
10.

46. 1. Identity+
Home Nav
3. Nav
Shortcuts 5. Search
4. Contact
12. Feature
13. Urgent Notice
14. Timely Content
2. White Space
Timely Info
New Developments
Thought Leadership
Inspiration
Timely Info
New Developments
8. Navigation to Business Units
7. Brand Identity
9. Navigation to Overview, Directories, Programs , Schools & Research
6. Navigation
By Persona
Critique
15. Navigation
Confusion:
 Navigation
alternatives take up a
majority of the prime
real estate space on
the homepage.
 Some of this
navigation is
duplicative.
 Excess options on
the home page
provides cognitive
overload for new
users.
 The website’s
primary target of
prospective students
are not well served.
 The remainder of the
space above-the-fold
is leaves little room for
featuring content to
engage (which is a
reason to return to the
site).
 Expert navigation
options are too limited.
10.
15. Legal Notices
11. White Space