COMPANY: Swarovski
WHERE TO FIND IT:
www.swarovski.com
CRITIQUE: Austria-based Swarovski, of which Cranston’s Swarovski Crystal Components Ltd. is a subsidiary, has an amazing, but often overwhelming Website. Using different plug-in programs to achieve its purpose, the jewelry giant’s site seems catered solely to the sort of person who would be able to afford its expensive line of wares. Or for those who like to pretend. The amount of information and visuals is so vast that the viewer would need days to hit every page. But perhaps that is the company’s plan: much like a serial, the viewer will keep coming back until he or she has visited every link. And by that time, something has most likely been updated, and he or she will have new information upon which to feed. This is the impression that the site constantly gives: There is always more.
NAVIGATION: Because there are so many things to see, traveling through this site (viewed on Internet Explorer version 4.0) can sometimes be a difficult voyage. For many pages there is a menu in the right-hand corner, which prevents you from going too far from home. One menu displays the nine main headings, while a sub-menu rolls down to display the topics within each heading. This is helpful because it shows you exactly where you are, and how you got there.
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There are also other areas, such as Swarovski Kristalwelten (crystal worlds), where JavaScript pop-up windows limit your wandering options to one topic. With no menu, you are locked in the area. This sort of focus is different from the other sort of browsing and is actually comforting.
CONTENT: In addition to images of jewelry from Swarovski, there is information about their subsidiaries Swarovski Optik, which manufactures glasses and binoculars; Signity, a gem-stone company; Tyrolit, a grinding tool system supplier; and Swareflex, a producer of road-safety reflectors. This ambitious range of categories may seem over-extensive, but they are all components of the Swarovski empire, and there is consistency in the presentation.
One of the major consistencies is the writing. Most of the text within swarovski.com is hilariously pretentious. Entrance pages feature quotes and analogies such as “Swarovski Crystal Worlds are to your mind what the high seas were to Columbus, Magellan or Vasco da Gama.”, and “SWAROVSKI – a multi-faceted universe of crystal. A cosmos of glittering crystal stars.”
When your eyes are finished rolling, you may eventually adjust to this level of narrative. You may even find yourself agreeing with remarks like, “Reality is only a feeble rendering of the energy brought forth by the imagination” upon listening to the enchanting musical loops and exploring the lush settings of the QuickTime Swarovski room.
There is also a Swarovski trivia quiz with questions asking how many copies of certain editions of jewelry pieces were created, past covers of Swarovski magazine, who invented what pieces of jewelry, and when a certain line was retired.
A Swarovski Christmas tree webcam, offers live coverage of the company’s enormous tree in Zurich. Not much changes in the frame.
USEABILITY: To cash in on every gem of this Website, you need to have a big-screen monitor (on smaller screens, the content seems cluttered), JavaScript capability, QuickTime 4.0, an audio card and Shockwave. Without all of these programs, you can still learn information about the company, but you do not get all of the whistles and bells.
Among these whistles and bells is the Crystal Components section of the site, which features a QuickTime VR movie, where you click your mouse on the screen to look around a beautiful room full of Swarovski products and three beautiful models. Clicking on “hot zones” where you can learn about individual items in the room, will take you to different links. Clicking on the model with the Bettie Page bangs will allow you to view her crystal-clad dress from all angles.
While this feature never ceases to amaze, there are drawbacks. It takes a few minutes to load, and these “hot zones” often crash the system. Perhaps with a better computer it would not crash as easily.
DESIGN: Like the pieces of jewelry that this site boasts, the visuals are very engaging. The home page is a solar system of gems, against an infinite white, with each icon representing different destinations on the site. Interestingly, the center of the Swarovski universe changes with each visit. Sometimes there is an image of crystal jewelry stones, sometimes their glass swan logo, and sometimes the face of the company’s forefather Daniel Swarovski. With swarovski.com there is always more.
