Web/Mobile App Critique

 The website I'll be reviewing is Amazon.com. Amazon is a website that is used as an online marketplace to purchase almost anything. My family and I use Amazon, and I find it extremely useful and easy to use sometimes. It has come in handy during the holiday season, as my family and I have used it to buy most of our holiday gifts. Overall, the website's design isn't exactly too pleasing to look at, but it is pretty straightforward. I believe it could be a lot simpler, but it is still decently easy to use and navigate. I think those who aren't as tech-savvy would find it a little challenging to set up an account, add things to their cart, and add their payment info to ultimately complete a purchase. Me as someone who has grown up and used computers their entire life, I found it simple, but if I were to let my older relatives try to use Amazon, I think they would struggle. 

In my opinion, the home page of Amazon has too much going on. It is overwhelming to look at, which makes sense as they are trying to advertise as many products as they can to sell to you ultimately, but I never look at the homepage whenever I am shopping on Amazon. The tabs at the top are very redundant. There are too many tabs, and they are slightly too specific. I would remove most of the tabs and create some that are more general, like aisles in a department store. I enjoy the search bar and the things next to it; I think the placement of those tabs makes sense, and it flows nicely. I would also would make the font bigger, it really gets overshadowed by all the pictures of the products under it that it makes it almost invisible. 

The account section on Amazon has entirely too many options. Even for me, I would struggle to find something specifically that I am looking for as there are entirely too many options. I couldn't even begin to go through them all to find what I was looking for. At that point, I would just google how to get to whatever page I am trying to find. I am sure once you get into the page you're looking for, it would become a lot simpler but to get there, it is entirely too complicated. I would definitely recommend getting rid of over half of these options. I know that Amazon is larger than just its marketplace. It has streaming services, products, and other things it manages, but I feel as if those could go in their own separate website, which would make it easier for the user and the company. The usability on this page is terrible and it makes it a headache to look at.

Ultimately, Amazon does its job as its intended. For people who are decently skilled at using the internet, they won't have a problem using it as its intended, searching products and purchasing them. Beyond that, Amazon really struggles with its usability especially for those who struggle with online websites and reading smaller letters