Homepage Research: Smashbox

The second homepage entails anything commercial. Makeup is most available to me, and I've spend a lot of time researching makeup, so it seemed to be the best choice. The problem I've discovered in this research is that most home pages for cosmetics and beauty are laid out in a nearly identical format; Company over navigation, large ad, three smaller ads underneath, all aligned in the center. So, I was happy to find a site that was a little different.

Smashbox:

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Website creator unknown, probably produced by the company itself.

Critique: Like it's name, Shashbox's homepage is bold, and maybe a little intense. The white on black makes everything come at you as an expression, and the all caps, bold and stretched out type pronounces this more.  People like their makeup strong, so I guess this could be a good marketing strategy. I do like the organization with the images; how the series of ads on one panel are all of one category of cosmetics, and how it's presented as a flip book. The navigation does well in standing out with the contrasted black text on white, but the font on it, while matching the rest of the page, isn't easy on the eyes.