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Busse Design Desconstructs Moviefone.com
By Joy Busse, CEO & President - Busse Design USA
Reprinted from Internet World, October 1, 2000
The redesigned AOL ticket-buying site does some things right and more things wrong - and it's no Mr. Moviefone.
I want my (old) Moviefone.com! 777-Film (Moviefone), with its trademark "Mr. Moviefone" voice, has been a family favorite since its launch. To my delight, Moviefone.com gave us the same expediency - it was clean, fast, and efficient. Sadly, the redesigned AOL Moviefone.com doesn't give us the same satisfying experience, and I'm back to using the phone hotline.
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Cool Doesn't Mean Cluttered.
Moviefone.com was really one of the great utilitarian products on the Web. It's clear that AOL is now trying to make a "hip" statement for younger users by targeting those demographic audiences. But reversed-out type on black with gobs of clutter does not make for an inviting experience. Clean and elegant can still be hip! Some of the virtues of great sites are ease of use, clean UI, efficiency, and great, readable content . I can't say this site accomplishes any of that.
No Information Hierarchy on the Home page.
The many type styles and lack of hierarchy make for a cumbersome read. Branding is obviously not a priority, as evidenced by the logo's unconventional placement on the right side, with no design around it to build visual equity. You can't even click on it to return to the home page. The navigation bar is too small and hard to read because of the comics-style font. The four silver buttons [right] that mimic the original script from the phone need to be more legible.
Functionality needs work.
The neon green links on a light gray background make the Previews page unreadable. "Review this movie" and "get more reviews of this movie" go to the same page. Showtime and Tickets doesn't look like a link, yet it's the key link to use. Once you land there the page is pretty clean. The Theater section's architecture needs work, though; it should let me decide what theater I want without scrolling endlessly.
It was once a great tool, but until Moviefone gets help, I'll use Excite's movie search.
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