Darren Alawi Web & brand designer

Argos take the concept of shopping and turn it upside down. To quote Michael McIntyre, watch the video here, a well known UK stand up comedian, they take the goods and hide them away from you, force you to find the secret code for the product in their huge laminated catalogue, perform your own stock check, then play the most depressing game of Bingo, where the prize is something you’ve already paid for. Back on subject, They have introduced their new logo along with a new website design that was long overdue.

For me Argos haven’t really been that creative with the logo change. They seem to have taken their existing mark and made it even more generic, softened the edges and changed the swoosh into a smile, probably based on the success of other online retailers. By ‘other online retailers’ I mean the largest online retailer in the world, Amazon. But the Argos logo doesn’t really match up to the Amazon mark because the swoosh in the Amazon logo might not be a smile, it might be an arrow which is why it is a little bit clever, it makes you wonder, creating something memorable. The new Argos mark is probably an attempt to associate happiness and good feelings with the brand, people like smiling so they will buy more stuff, that would be the theory at least.

In contrast the new website is a good improvement, no great but good. Argos.co.uk has always really annoyed me, the design has always been very lacking especially for a business that was based on a catalogue, transferring that expertise or experience should of created a wonderful website but unfortunately it created a pale blue, saturated red monster. I always thought they should of focused on creating the catalogue as a website, creating something more readable with browsing being the key focus of the design. Instead it always felt like a mish mash of text links, an overgrown navigation menu, and just too many things to look at, all too close together.

The new argos.co.uk is a step in the right direction. The layout is improved, with focus points more clearly defined using borders. The use of simple silhouetted icons is also a welcomed addition that improves usability while adding a more professional touch. The layout of all the pages have less clutter leaving way for clearer presentation of each product. This is another good example where simply adding more white space has helped the page become more defined and flow better. The ecommerce designer tells me this will sell more products, no a smile in the logo, users like to see information and a clear visual of the product.

They have also sorted out their typography. The old site contained multiple fonts that weren’t consistent in how they were applied. Now headings are treated to a nice serif font and Arial is used for rest, not mind blowing but much improved. There has also been a slight change to the blue colour used, personally I would look at less saturated colours in general, but that is just me, plus these colours already have the association with the brand. Overall the site is a massive improvement on the old version. I would still love them to take a catalogue style approach to the site, be a bit more creative, that’s what people know about Argos, they have a huge laminated catalogue amongst other things.