Powell's Bookstore Archive - 0 views
-
Rachael Pearson on 30 Jan 14Powell's website has gone through a number of changes over the years, one of the most noticed changes is that their icon, remaining in the upper-left corner, has changed multiple times since 1998. The date of the website I posted is from 2000, and I think it fits the time of the technology available. This site does look "old", which is why I think all of these sites have been entertaining to revisit. It's set up in a fairly simple construct, there is nothing flashy or attention-grabbing about the text font. There's a strip of colored tabs at the top of the screen that I feel like I've seen many times before, like on a library or a middle school website. Websites now seem to have more engaging elements whether is motion graphics, or the design is just more complicated and intriguing. This site is pretty text heavy; there are minimal graphics so it just looks like a wall of black text, there isn't a lot that is keeping me interested. Images are small and don't offer visual representation of the store. The text is all in slightly different sized Times New Roman, even in the links or the pages as I'm navigating around the site. I haven't found any sound or multimedia. Toward the bottom of the page there is an option for "free stuff" for either a mac or a pc. The Powell's Bookstore name and icon remain in the same place on the site.
-
c diehl on 01 Feb 14This is an intriguing site for its connection locally to Portland and I think also of the struggles of so many "brick-and-mortar" bookstores in face of online bookselling. More particular as a case study for media archeology, the lackluster design elements of this artifact, as you point out, a (constrained) aesthetic familiar to many early websites --- the 'bells and whistles' arrving via text centric gimmicks--- contests and 'free stuff', rather than visual appeals.