ad crit 11

You know how people have a favorite animal? Some like dolphins, some like lions, kittens, etc. Well mine has always been the armadillo. I’m not real sure why, I think I just liked the way they looked when I was younger. For this reason, my affection for the strange little mammal, I decided to use one as my theme for my eleventh ad crit.
In searching the web, I found a website that has an armadillo as the ‘mascot’ and decided to analyze it. The site is www.bigdillo.net, which is a site advertising their advertising company.
At second glance, (not first because it’s not that screaming obvious), the eye falls on the stylized claymation looking armadillo in the center of the page. As adorable as he is, he doesn’t stand out enough for my taste. The name is after all, ‘Armadillo Advertising”. However for an ad agency, I’m surprised at some of their choices for the homepage layout.
Firstly, and this is why I say at a second glance, the armadillo is grey, which is true to life, however I don’t think he stands out enough against the medium blue background-even with the ‘fade-to green’ ground the armadillo is ‘standing’ on.
Secondly, what’s with all the font everywhere? There is the cheesy blinking ‘ears’ tab at the end of the link bar with some strange designs at either end, (which is also repeated at the bottom of the page); this ‘stamp of approval’ competing with the armadillo image; and lastly text going in just about every direction possible! Round, tilted, horizontal and linear top to bottom, that’s a lot to look at! The curved lines on either side of the armadillo is a catchy idea, but there is too much going on visually with everything else. There is also competition with the different sized fonts throughout the page. Along the curved lines, well, just on the right side, is a cleverly planned layout describing the site, but again it is overshadowed by the multiple messages the designer felt needed to go all around the image.
While it is a cute idea, unfortunately the whole composition is muddied by all of the elements going on.