CDF Project 1
Effective — Matcha.com


My effective piece of design is the website matcha.com, which sells premium quality matcha and matcha accessories for matcha lovers. The goal of this website design is to make customers want to buy their matcha products and capture new customers. This website accomplishes this goal through several design elements that work together to create a cohesive, thorough, yet simple user experience and interaction.
First, the text is easy to read due to its minimalistic and clean font type and color, the color contrast with the background, and the extra spacing between letters in the headings. Text gradient, font size changes, and font type changes within a chunk of text makes important titles and labelings stand out. Furthermore, images, graphics, and animations (e.g. mousing over) used are all in the same color scheme of green, the same color as matcha. A grid layout creates organized space and easy navigation for customers. Optimal use of negative space creates clarity and elegance. The site furthermore caters to all site visitors, including new visitors who want to learn more (they can click the “Watch the Video” button) and returning customers who want to browse products to buy (“Visit Store” button). Lastly, little pop-ups in the corner display customers buying their products in real time, which is not intrusive to customers’ site experience yet markets Matcha Kari’s products. Overall, through a delicate balance between text, graphics, color, space, and organization all with the user in mind, matcha.com is an exemplar of effective design.
Ineffective — Glad ClingWrap Plastic Wrap

My ineffective piece of design is the Glad ClingWrap plastic wrap, which is used to wrap produce or leftovers and found in kitchens. The goal of the plastic wrap design is for people to easily cut off plastic wrap off of a roll to store their food and keep their food fresh. Several design elements make this plastic wrap an example of poor design.
Right off the bat, the bold and bright colors of red and yellow are clashing and have poor contrast, making the text hard to read and off-putting. Furthermore, random chunks of text with tiny font makes the packaging cluttered and difficult to understand. Personally, I had a hard time opening the cling wrap packaging due to the confusing location of the directions. Most importantly, the supposedly simple functionality of the plastic wrap is invalidated due to the positioning of the blade to cut the plastic on the lid. It is very easy to cut yourself when you are opening the box to get the plastic wrap. Moreover, the plastic wrap is harder to tear up than down, making the design counterintuitive. Lastly, the plastic wrap clings to you more than the item you want to wrap. In conclusion, the garish colors, cluttered text, and counterintuitive functionality of the plastic wrap make this an ineffective design.
