FAO Schwarz, the huge US toy shop, has got an excellent online tool on their site for the Xmas period – a microsite which allows you to design and create your own muppet “what not” (the generic muppet/sesame street looking characters like Swedish Chef of Beaker) in The Muppet Show WhatNot Workshop.
It’s kind of like Simpson-ise yourself, but it results in a physical end product delivered to your door for $90
Except, there’s a problem with the web execution – it isn’t excellent at all.
Sure, it works, and it’s easy to use.
But it’s boring. BOOOORING.
It’s a very simple form, nothing happens in real-time, so it’s hard to know what you’re creating as you proceed, and the end result is, well, a little disappointing in as much as it just lumps the assets you’ve chosen, like hair, nose, eyes, etc., onto a default body shape (which you also choose) but in a way with no finesse, no style, and it looks like a 10 year old cut and paste it together in MS Paint.
I’m not kidding – speccing up a new Dell is more fun than this process.
Come on webmaster of FAO Schwarz – you could have made this into on of the holiday seasons must-see web locations.
Instead, you’ve created a functional but decidely average online shopping experience.
User experience isn’t just about making things as simple and easy to use as possible, it’s about providing that as well as an online experience that engages with the audience and makes them realise the experience was fun and worthwhile and sticks in their mind. If it was all about being easy to use we’d all do plain HTML sites in black text on a while background.
Use your imagination. You sell toys! That’s got to be a fun gig.
So why is this microsite so yawn inducing?
Howard
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