A Gap in the Steel Curtain: The Steelers Fumble Online

Posted by: Dharma Pachner, Director of User Experience Jan 23, 2009 2 Comments

With Super Bowl XLIII only a few days away, it seems appropriate to discuss the website of my all-time favorite team—the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are an outstanding organization—always exciting to watch, and perennial contenders for the Super Bowl. And while they have been tearing up the record book all season, their website falls far short of their stellar performance on their field. In order to understand why, let’s compare their website with that of their recent AFC Championship opponents—the Baltimore Ravens.

Content

The Ravens website is far more engaging and does a remarkable job of leveraging the interactive capabilities of the web. Content is the most critical element of ANY website’s success, and the Ravens site is packed with it—well written articles, tons of videos and other rich media, blogs, forums, and even helpful resources such as tailgating recipes.

The Steelers site, on the other hand, feels outdated, flat, and one-dimensional. It may offer a lot of similar content, but does so in a much less robust manner. The scant multimedia section, for example, contains only a few photo slideshows and desktop wallpapers.

Compare the treatment here of the desktop wallpaper sections—the screenshots should speak for themselves.

Structure

Delivering meaningful content to your site’s users is the most important challenge of any web strategy. Organizing that content to be logically structured and easily consumed is the next step in ensuring a website’s success. And here again, the Ravens come out comfortably ahead. Their site is structured around a well-defined global navigation that logically compartmentalizes the various sections while retaining uncluttered access to deeper content. Additionally, the site employs a clearly defined visual hierarchy and offers users navigational cues throughout to keep them oriented and engaged.

The global navigation on the Steelers site is awkward and easy to overlook. The location fails to serve as a solid visual anchor, and does little to guide the the user-experience. Page content is haphazard and inconsistent and the existing information architecture does not allow for easy discovery.

Design

Agh! Again, the Ravens dominate. The design has been carefully crafted—there is an exceptional balance of clean whitespace and rich imagery. The typography has been given particular consideration, and everything—down to the smallest detail—has been executed thoughtfully.

The Steelers site is a dizzying array of disparate design elements and metallic textures that visually compete with the content. The layout of the pages is poor, and the typography is sloppy and difficult to read. There is often no clear visual distinctions between editorial copy and ad space, which further erodes the user experience.

Contrast the player biography pages on both of these sites. The Ravens biography page features a polished interface, clean information structure, and a logical separation of information. The presentation of similar content on the Steelers site illustrates how important design is to the user experience.

Functionality

Do I even have to say it? Yes, once again the Ravens come out on top. Their site feels fresh and energetic, and employs a wide array of digital tools to help make the user experience more personal, engaging, and enjoyable. The homepage features a prominent, well-crafted image carousel that allows them to showcase many featured stories in a tighly contained visual space. The site also features tools for progressive disclosure—tabbed panels that allow users to control the views of content that appears on the page.

The Steelers site features some similar functionality such as message boards and tabbed content, but it is not done nearly as exhaustively as on the Ravens site.

Why This Matters

While the Steelers have (clearly) demonstrated that they are the superior team on the field, there is no question that the Ravens own the digital space. So why does it matter if the Steelers’ website falls short? It matters for several reasons. From a business perspective, both sites feature e-commerce capabilites. An effective website will help facilitate these transactions and should ultimately improve the organizations’ bottom line. Additionally, both sites heavily feature third-party advertising. A site that compels a large number of users to visit frequently certainly can’t hurt ad-space rates.

But what troubles me most about the Steelers website is that it is not an accurate reflection of their brand. The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the best run and most successful organizations in all of professional sports. Their longtime owner—Dan Rooney—is smart, resourceful, and consistently does more with less than any other owner in the league. Their website does not reflect these characteristics—it makes them appear small, amateur, and incompetent.

Fortunately, the Steelers possess a stellar brand reputation that easily transcends their website. Most organizations do not have that luxury. In fact, many organizations have to rely exclusively on their website to help define themselves and shape users’ perceptions. A website is arguably the single most visible representation of a brand, and needs to be treated accordingly. As for the Steelers, I am sure they will be fine. But Dan Rooney, if you happen to read this, please call us. We can help.

Enjoy this post?

Subscribe to the feed

-->

Dharma Pachner

Director of User Experience

• Most Recent
• Topics

View all previous posts