Schtock

I ran across Schtock yesterday, a site where this “amatuer designer”, showcases the images he has created from the images that cross his desk at his job. He works cataloging stock art. I’d like to take the time out to offer a couple thoughts I had in relation to this site.

The top navigation for the main part of the site – used to go back and forth between images, and show the stock images used in that piece – is very natural and unobtrusive. I find the “about this image” particularly modern and a great use of John Maeda’s SHE principle. But, I think there are some serious problems with this site that go beyond simple heuristics evaluation or discussion of usability.

Also, let me state that while the site creator self-refers as an amateur designer, the author is assuredly neither amateur nor a designer, but a fantastic artist.

First, the “about this site” link should not go to a blog. When clicking “about this site” I expect to go to a page whose main content is explaining the site. Yes, that content is on the blog, but in the upper-right, a place for tertiary content at best.

Second, the simple image navigation interface is nice, but unless there’s an implied sequence to images (and sometimes even if), a browse by thumbnail option should be provided. This is a fairly common mistake I find in sites. Simplicity-in-design is no excuse for adopting a simple solution.

Third, and this relates back to the blog, going to the blog gives the sensation of going to another web site. I tend not to look at the URL bar much, and I had to go back and forth between the blog and main portion of the site a coupe times to be sure belonged to the same site. Yes, the gray colors match (and it’s a serious-designerly gray), but there has to be more there for the blog and the site to really belong together.

All in all though, this images on Schtock are incredible, and the art belongs more in a museum than on my silly little blog.