Fashion game for girl online

Seventeen - Seventeen.com - Web site review - Brief Article

Seventeen.com was born in the fall of 1998. The teen site, which targets females 13 to 22, unveiled a new look August 1. However, the site will not remain static, says Seventeen editor Patrice Adcroft. As technology evolves, so too will the site. Eventually, Seventeen.com plans to add or update its e-commerce, streaming video and audio, and voice chat offerings, she says.

BC - The first thing you see is the Seventeen logo. I don't think it's been changed since The Patty Duke Show was cancelled. The problem is they are doing nothing to leverage that. They are not. making it feel classic and they are not making it feel retro. It's just dusty and it's the first thing you're looking at. It feels very Cheryl Tiegs to me. That's the face of the brand. That's the front door.

JN - You provide a menu of choices to the visitor. They're going to spend anytime from one to 10 minutes on the Web site if they like it. If they don't like it, they will spend about 10 seconds. That's why within 10 seconds, you have to communicate with people what the Web site is about and what the main things you can do here are. That has to be very upfront, clear and explicit. Secondly, you have to allow them to understand where to go. The more they understand where to go, the more they will stay because they will click on things that are gratifying to them, as opposed to the things that are wrong for them.

JN - The main story, which is the dish of the day, has maybe too teasing a headline. That really violates the navigation rule that says "I'm supposed to understand where I'm going". I would make the headline a little more specific. The advice is to provide a little more information about the story, so that people can decide where to click. Life is too short to click on everything. That is true for every single Web site in the world. No one will have time to click on all your stuff. And it should not be your goal. It's unrealistic to expect people to read everything.

JN - I think [the scrolling banner at the bottom] is basically annoying. What you're really doing here is constantly offending your customers. It's sort of like, "We have to put you through a certain amount of torture in order to give you this content." And I think people engage in a game. It's like, "Well, I'm really not going to allow you to impact me." It's constantly blinking, which makes it harder to read or concentrate on the content.

BC - The fashion section has really bland photography. It's like bad catalog photographs.

JN - [Love & Sex: How Far is Too Far?] might be slightly daring, but you have a good idea of what you would get if you clicked on.

BC - That's the tone of voice they use throughout the Web site. It's a magazine type of voice. It's like Vogue for kids. It is generic. It's not a tone of voice that kids speak in. It sounds like it's being written by very well-intentioned 30-year-olds. I think it's a homogenized, synthetic view of how girls live. [On the other hand,] Alloy.com uses language that seems a true and honest experience for where a young 13-, 14-, 15-year-old girl lives. They have a thing called the Alloy Poll and the question is, "If your best friend stole your crush, would you deal or freak?" That's how kids talk. It's hipper by far and far more real.