Starbucks' Use of the Principles of Design

In order to be a relevant company, it is imperative to have a well designed website and a strong online presence. It is important to focus on the design of any website because good design creates order and gives readers a way to know where they can find the information they are looking for. 

As Johnson-Sheehan discusses in Technical Communication Today, there are five main principles of design. They are balance, alignment, grouping, consistency and contrast. It is also becoming more and more important to be aware of cross-cultural design as to not alienate visitors to the website from different cultures.

Balance

Balance does not mean symmetrical, it means that there is equal weight on the left and right as well as the top and bottom of the screen. Some examples of weight are that pictures and graphics hold more weight than text and color items hold more weight than black and white. Also, items on the right side of a screen weight more than those on the left side.

 On Starbucks’ home page, there is a banner across the top with a large graphic directly underneath it that is aligned to the left. On the right, next to it, are four smaller graphics that balance the large one out and create a sense of balance between the images. They can be clicked on to change the main large image to a different one.

The banner across the top of the website has six main categories relating to the company and each one has a drop down menu that has links to more specific pages. 

There is a similar banner that runs along the bottom, which is made up with links of all text and no graphics. It feels mostly balanced because the text, which is all the same size, has nothing to compete with that would make it unbalanced.

Starbucks’ social media sites are all set up with the typical platform template (i.e. Facebook banner with the wall underneath, Twitter page with the icon on the top left and Twitter feed to the right, etc.). Most of the design principles are decided for the company by the social media platform being used.

Alignment

All the fonts and photos on Starbucks website are aligned to the left. The site tends to follow the pattern of a photo or video on top of the text that corresponds to it. Some pages have graphics or links in the margin on the right side of the screen, but all the text and photos are still aligned left in the spaces they are in.

There are certain pages of the website that do feel unbalanced because of the constant left alignment. There tends to be a lot of empty, white space on the right side of pages because all the text and graphics fall on the left side. 

Grouping

“Items on a page that are near each other will be seen as a unit” (Johnson-Sheehan, 493). Starbucks does a great job with grouping on their website. Their top banner has six headings which each have drop-down menus with pages relating to the main headings category. For example, the first heading says coffee. When you hover over that heading, a drop-down comes down with links to all the types of coffee and coffee brewing systems they have.

Images are placed usually above the corresponding text on most of the pages of Starbucks website. Large level one and two headings are placed above smaller text to show that the text is grouped with the heading above it. There is a page to browse topics about the company where a heading is followed by smaller, bold links so the visitor knows which group the links belong to.

The website does not use many borders, but there are rules that divide some of the sections so the groups are easier to distinguish. They tend to be used between blog posts or to break up space between the end of a post and user comments below it. There is also a rule at the bottom of each page to differentiate between the bottom of the page and the top of the banner that runs along the bottom of every page on the website. 

Consistency

Design features are used consistently throughout Starbucks website. As I mentioned before, the website is consistently aligned to the left of the page. The same top and bottom banners are on each page. The font is the same throughout as well and the typeface is all sans serif. It is easy to distinguish between headings and regular text because the headings are all in bold and larger than the actual text. On some pages the headings are bold and green, and other pages are bold and black.

Color is used consistently on the website also. The logo is dark green and white, and each page has both of these colors. The website text is almost always in black, making it easy to read. On Starbucks social media sites, the logo and the colors are consistent also. Their logo is the profile picture for all of their social networking sites, which creates a sense of uniformity between their stores, website and all social networking platforms.

Contrast

“Contrast makes items look distinct and different, adding energy and sharpening boundaries among the features on the page or screen” (Johnson-Sheehan, 505). It is easy to tell the difference between the top drop down menu and the bottom banner and the rest of the website because the background is dark and the text is light, whereas on the rest of the website, the text is dark on a light background.

Headings are larger, bold, and sometimes green to contrast against the smaller page text so those viewing the website understand the heading and the text are different. The length of lines never goes more than half the page, so it is easy to read but not too short to annoy readers with the need for quick back and forth eye movements. When there is font or graphics on the right side of the page, the lines are shorter so the reader knows it is a short piece of information. 

Cross-Cultural Design

Starbucks is at an advantage as a global corporation at having cross-cultural design. While their main American website does not have much in terms of cross-cultural design aspects, there are sub-websites for the other countries Starbucks is in. Most of the sites have generally the same layout, which helps with consistency, but are in different languages. Some exceptions are counties in the Eastern hemisphere such as Japan, Russia and Australia.

Starbucks Australia

Starbucks Russia

Starbucks Japan

Starbucks France

Conclusion

Overall, Starbucks website follows the main principles of design. Most of the pages are balanced well and they are consistently aligned to the left. Images and text that should be grouped together are. The contrast of text and background colors makes the pages easy to read and pleasing to the eye. The colors, fonts and logos are consistently used not only on their website, but on their social networking sites as well and the use of country-specific websites helps eliminate the problems caused by cross-cultural design differences.

Having a visually appealing and well designed website is important to help a company build a strong online presence. Starbucks has accomplished this by being compliant with the main principles of design. 

Works Cited

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Technical Communication Today. N.p.: Longman Pub Group, 2011. Print.

Starbucks Media Relations Strategies

Media relations strategies have had to change and grow with the evolution of the digital world. Traditional media relations strategies are still used, but more often, new media strategies have to be used to get a company’s message out to the public. “The weight traditional media always carried in making or breaking brands and reputations lessened with the emergence of every new digital platform” (Argenti and Barnes, 75).

For a company like Starbucks, it was especially important to understand new media relations. The company has been around since before the digital era, so they needed to make sure they demonstrated that they were, and still are, a relevant brand by adapting to all of the media changes over the years.

One positive aspect of being around before the digital era is that Starbucks understood traditional media strategies and could build on those basics to work in our digital world today. Traditional media outlets (newspaper, television, magazine, radio) are still viable media sources, but are less relevant than they once were.

Starbucks is still mentioned in these traditional media outlets, and they still use tactics such as writing press releases about the company and pitching ideas for stories to reporters, but the way these things get accomplished now are different than they once were.

Digital media relations strategies are now the main focus for companies trying to get their messages out. Messages need to reach not only traditional media outlets, but online and social media outlets as well. Starbucks has fully immersed itself into the online and social media world.

First and foremost, their website is interactive and allows for user comments and suggestions. It is well designed, easy to navigate and encourages consumer conversation.

Navigating through the website leads to Starbucks social media accounts. Starbucks is involved in many social media platforms.

Their Facebook and Twitter accounts are streamed onto their website, as well as a Twitter account monitoring mentions of Starbucks. I really like that they stream not only what they are saying, but what their customers are as well.

It makes me feel that they care about their customer base and are proud to showcase what they are saying about the company. “…customers who want to talk will, and smart companies will not just listen but will engage them in decisions” (Argenti and Barnes, 78).

Starbucks also has Pinterest, Instagram (@Starbucks), LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ accounts, as well as a website called My Starbucks Idea  which encourages customers to send in their ideas for new products and ways to improve their Starbucks experiences. They rank ideas and even show ‘ideas in action’, which are customer ideas that Starbucks has integrated into the company over time.

The fact that Starbucks have accounts with all major social media platforms (that they update regularly) demonstrates they are well involved in many forms of digital media relations. The accounts also have relevant information consumers want, regarding not only Starbucks products, but ways people can get involved in their communities as well. For Starbucks 25-40 year old target market, both social media and social activism are important and Starbucks accounts make sure to appeal to their target market well. 

Starbucks has a well-developed online newsroom as well, which is extremely important for media relations because it “gives journalists access to what they want it” and they act as a “catalyst for increasing traffic to corporate Web sites” (Argenti and Barnes, 100).

The newsroom is easy to find on their website, easy to navigate through and includes useful media relations content. The Starbucks newsroom has high-resolution image libraries, feeds of the latest news developments including RSS options, videos, and blog rolls and an easy to find lists of media contacts. This is especially important because it directs journalists to the right people within the company.

It is important to have consistent messaging and branding through all media relations. Starbucks accomplishes this. Their logo is on every page of their website and social networking sites and their focus on community comes through with everything they do.

In the stores, Starbucks focuses on the customer and making sure they are comfortable and satisfied with their entire experience. Online, Starbucks tries to do the same. They make it easy to find their newsroom and media contacts; they make their social networking links available on pretty much every page and they make sure everyone can voice their opinions (whether good or bad) and be heard. Starbucks brand is focused greatly on bettering the global community and proving their customers with the best product they can. 

Starbucks seems to have most of the bases covered regarding media relations. Being a huge corporation certainly helps because they can afford to hire the best media relations specialists. While they do seem to have very good media relations, things can always be improved. I believe the corporate blog on their website should be easier to find. Also, they would benefit from updating their Twitter more often with more conversational tweets to generate more discussions.

These are minor things that can be improved because overall I think Starbucks knows what they are doing and they certainly are well known by the public and the media. 

Works Cited

Argenti, Paul A. Digital Strategies for Powerful Corporate Communications. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.