Digital Dish

Lessons From Early Web Shows: Model Live

August 27, 2008 2:09 PM

As I write this, I’m watching Vogue’s Model Live webisode. Surprisingly, I remembered the Vogue.tv URL and hit it rather than going to Bebo (perhaps a testament to what Vogue has done well).

After a too-long page load, I’m on the site. I never understand why companies don’t listen to what was learned in the 1990s about usability. Not everybody is on high-speed, and Flash sites load slowly. While design is important, overly designed or stylized pages please you more than us.

Vogue TV

The interface is smart, clean and shows me exactly what to do. I would have opted for left-to-right navigation with the show player as the first thing my eyes laid on. Instead it was the store, which maybe was intentional.

I won’t lie. I wanted to know what the store was about.

I click and the video loads quickly. It has a nice look and feel to it, but the show’s pace is very slow. I want action! Isn’t this supposed to be a look at the fast-paced, cool world of modeling? Instead, the music feels kind of emotional. Several of the first minutes are wispy, dreamy shots of the character Cato (whom I now don’t like).

A good few minutes in, and I’m still waiting to find out what’s engaging about the show.

After a couple of seconds, I jump. Maybe there is another episode. I find and try episode 1, then the trailer. Neither work, and after a few attempts, I move off the site all together. I’m online—there are other things going on.

All in all, I think Vogue’s producers did well. The show was well promoted, well shot and looks great. I was interested in the subject as a viewer from the minute I saw the Vanity Fair ad about it.

That’s one thing I think the company did right: Marketing initiatives were not limited to the Internet, but also reached the offline audience. It worked on this girl.

The subject is cool and I can see users getting involved, but I think every show needs to have something that instantly grabs the audience and draws them in, maybe even more so than in the traditional TV world.