Visual analysis - Essay Example

Dockers.com presents a webpage that is bold and straight-to-the-point, characteristics associated with being purposeful, one of Dockers’ lifestyle promises. Once on the site, consumers can already feel a sense of intention. Calibri and Arial fonts in basic colors of black and white dominate the page, consistent with a no-nonsense attitude Dockers portrays. Even the language on the site speaks of decisiveness as Dockers does not describe its clothes. Rather, it tells the consumers to take action by utilizing verbs such as make, explore and get.

Black, a common color for formal clothes, presents a picture of solidity, another lifestyle promise from Dockers, and also classic elegance. This promise of solidity is again reinforced by the Dockers’ logo – an anchor that appears in full each time a user moves from page to page. The anchor, symbolizing steadiness, is also defined as a ‘person… that can be relied on for support, stability, or security.” (Anchor) With its taglines like “Dockers has your back” or “We’ve got you covered”, the brand reiterates once more its promise of dependability.

Orange may not be a color associated with men. However, Dockers employs the color on its page for two reasons. For one, it is in line with the company’s lifestyle promise of a go-getter attitude. The orange links stand out making them easy to find and click. Consumers can readily know the current page because the orange is such a contrast to the black and gray letters that dominate the site. The second reason the orange works is because Dockers makes men feel confident in themselves to wear any color, even those usually utilized for females.

In fact, if one is to browse the khaki section by color, the selection includes khakis in honey mustard and another in electric blue. In their Spring 2013 collection, khakis are offered in yellow and orange. The first page of the site features a set of pictures vertically arranged on the center of the page. These have lines or two on each of them. Consumers will see that Dockers has anticipated the consumers’ needs and is prepared to satisfy these with messages such as “We’ve got you covered”, “Quality gifts that keep giving, at any price” and “Dockers has your back”.

Again, these shows Dockers’ promise to make the consumer feel dependable. Dockers is able to make male consumers easily associate themselves with the male models on its site. The models in the pictures and videos are not overly handsome or muscular. They can be a father, brother, husband, uncle or friend, the very same consumers who visit the site. A commonality among them is their confident stance which emphasizes Dockers’ promise of determination. For the videos, Dockers chose to feature inspirational males who are enjoying the life they have carved out for themselves.

Examples include Michael “Bear” Grylls who is an adventurer, writer and television personality; Danny Hess, who makes environmentally-friendly surfboards; and, David Burnett, a teacher and architect who now helps make homes for Habitat for Humanity. By employing these personalities and having them share their passions on the site, Dockers is able to tell its audience that their clothes are the suitable partners of people who are confident, reliable and have a sense of purpose in their lives.

The array of videos and pictures make the site visually appealing, especially since most audiences who shop for clothes do not take time to read blurbs and paragraphs but do enjoy clicking