ASOS

Image/Text Analysis Guidelines

Asos was established in June 2000 by Nick Robertson. Asos is the UK’s largest online-only fashion and beauty store; the convenient nature of the Asos company is an important feature especially for those with no time for shopping physically; workaholics and many others alike. It is primarily aimed at 16-34 year old men and women, and provides free shipping Worldwide. Sales for the financial year ending 31 March 2011 were £339.7 million; this alone being one of several forms of evidence of success.

Colour Management / Usage

The dominant colour of this image is grayscale, with light hints of pink and yellow used in the left hand side corner. The use of black in this image portays a kind of vintage party theme. This is likely because this style is in season at the moment. It is also black to show equality between the male and female clothes. If this image was in colour, one gender’s clothing would be brighter than the other, making the image unbalanced and too bright. Also, the viewer is able to select which gender clothing to shop for, (as seen on the lower center of the image), and once the shopper has chosen which gender to shop for, the next page is presented in colour. The hints of pink and yellow attract the shoppers attention, and makes them view the models from left to right. As the shopper views the models from left to right, they will notice that as they pass each model, the clothing gets less and less formal, showing that this website provides both formal and informal party outfits; this is effective because multiple situations are catered for as an inevitable result.

The images above gradually get brighter and add more colour from left to right. This again makes the shopper read from left to right, and makes the third picture more appealing than the others. For these reasons, it shows the importance of each link under the images. The main colour on this page, apart from the images, is black and white. This makes it more formal and shows that the website focuses on clothes, because it’s purpose is to sell them.

Font or Typeface Use

The dominant word on this page is the logo of the asos company. This is because it is the larger and bolder than the rest.  Roman typefaces are used for headings “to give their writing classical weight” (Wysocki, 2004). This gives the website a more formal look, which relates back to the formal wear that is included in the wide selection of formal attire on the asos company website. The word ‘NEW’ is in bold and in red, to attract the shopper’s attention and shows that the ‘saved items’ option is a new feature and can benefit a shopper.

Sans serif typefaces are used for all the captions beneath the images. This makes it less formal, and relates back to the shopper, as it has more to do with the shopper themselves, than the website or season trend. The formal and informal fonts relate the formal and informal clothing which this website provides. “Letters have shape because of their typefaces. Because typefaces are a major visual strategy for a text’s composers to signal the genre into which the text is to fit” (Wysocki, 2004). Some words are shown in upper case and bold to show its importance, for example “UP TO 70% OFF SALE”, attracts the shopper’s attention, as it would most probably be of intrest to the shopper, and therefore benefit the company due to the increased sales.  

There is a reason why websites do not mention information from left to right to cover every inch of a website. Other than the option of added images, information is spread out across the page in an F-shape pattern; because it caters more naturally to the attention span of the audience; when reading content on websites due to the fact that users of the web do not tend to thoroughly read every page visited. This idea is supported by Nielson (2007).

Use of Imagery

This is the dominant image of the home page, it sets the mood and trend of the season. The image of the models also brings the page to life, shown by the different emotions on the model’s faces. This attracts shoppers and makes them feel that if they wear these clothes, they can have as much fun as the models. This is further reinforced by Wysocki’s (2004) idea that, “photographs are often used to bring an sense of immediacy and “reality” to a layout”.  This reinforces the notion that rather the website being 2-dimensional it is more interactional and gives the page a personality, thus relating to the shopper making them want to buy. The models are of both gender, showing that shoppers are both male and female and seem to be aged in their twenties, so it appeals to teenagers and adults. The image also has a bold black border to make the image stand out, this border proves that this is the dominant image, and emphasises that the funky mood and style portrayed in the image, will be ‘in fashion’ next season.  
The words in the image relate to the party theme that is being portrayed, again emphasising the season's trend.

The subject matter in each of the images above, give the shopper an idea of what to expect once you click on the links given. For example, the ‘join the conversation’ image is of 3 people (shoppers) conversating. This is shown by the smiles and giggles. This immidiately portrays a mood of fun, which can be expected when joing a chat room about fashion. There is a male in the image, meaning that males can also join in on the fun and discuss fashion trends. At the ‘Asos marketplace’ one can expect to see clothes being modeled, and if they are liked, they can be purchased. The ‘express you…personality’ tab is the most colourful out of the other images. This is because when you express your fashion personality, it should be colourful. Notice that the images are only of clothes; the shopper would expect that one would be able to create their own outfits, and express their fashion personality.

Links of Extended Information

Links are usually placed at the bottom of the page because it is the least significant section when it comes to advertising, however, in the case of placing in a layout it is appropriate; this is because upon visiting a website, strong interest will generally result in an eventual scrolling towards the bottom where links are located for contact information and more. In the case of this website, however, there are also a set of links at the top which appear in the form of a drop down menu, as shown in the picture directly above.

References:

Nielson, J. (2007), Writing for the web: Research on how users read on the web and how authors should write their web pages. Retrieved 26 June, 2007 from: http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/

Wysocki, A. F. (2004). The multiple media of texts: How onscreen and paper texts incorporate words, images and other media. In C. Bazerman and P. Prior, (Eds.) What writing does and how it does it: An introduction to analyzing texts and textual practices, pp. 123 -163, Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum.