Electronic Ink is international design consultancies dedicated to improving the way people interact with technology, environments and one another. Their mission is to make technology easy to use with the use if interactivity and design. Its creator, Harold Hambrose, built Electronic In., he created it to provide intuitive design solutions while still considering human behaviors. Electronic Ink has been up and running for the last 20 years in the US, UK and Europe; and its plans are to expand even further.
On Electronic Ink there are about two main navigation systems. On the home page the first navigation system links the user to learn About, Process, and Portfolio. Under those three there are mini navigation links that get more in-depth on those topics. The first navigation has a higher hierarchy than the second one but you have to click on the link to get to the second navigation bar rather then being able to roll over it wit your cursor and it showing up. Once you click on the links on either navigation bar the look of the link does not change, but once you’re clicking though the second navigation bar the link is highlighted when you’re on that page.
The architecture of the site is pretty clear so I do know where I am within the site. I can also tell that the site does seem to have a deep architecture but there is no home page link on the site, users have to click on the Electronic Ink logo to get to the home page. This site is very deep because the overall purpose of this site covers international business regarding subjects from services to design.
There are very subtle, but effective hierarchy within the type, the only thing they can possibly improve on is the hierarchy of the type in the navigation bar. They use different colors, contrast and they also switch from serif to sans serif fonts to distinguish the hierarchy of the type. Also some of the titles have a lighter weight than the text. On Electronic Ink’s website there is a consistent grid layout though out the pages. There doesn’t seem to be and changes on any other pages within Electronic ink’s website, they all stay the same. The focal point of each page a horizontal flash/slide show player that shows photos about Electronic ink and what they do.
There aren’t many photos or imagery on the website other than that slide show player that was just discussed. Even though there aren’t many photos there are enough to portray the overall purpose of the site. The only thing is on the portfolio link there does need to be more imagery to show off their work. The color palette of Electronic Ink consists of orange, gray, black and light/grayish blue. These colors were chosen to keep the site’s simplicity since its users are not only designers.
