ShopRVA sounds good in theory:
ShopRVA is a coordinated effort to direct the public towards shopping at local, independently owned businesses. This is not only to benefit small stores. The act of buying locally allows cities to be more self-sustaining and helps prevent intervention from corporate business. Small businesses also add to the unique nature of the city by providing services that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Through this campaign, ShopRVA hopes to provide incentive through education as to why shopping locally is a wise way to give back to your community.
…but looks poor in execution. Yeah, it’s a couple folks who had to throw a site together for class, but there’s so much more that could be done for something like this.
The Commonwealth Times has a press release dressed up like an article in Monday’s issue. (C’mon, guys, you couldn’t have interviewed someone OTHER than one guy, Derek Chamberlin, involved in the site? Not even one of the businesses who are associated?) By the sounds of things, this is supposed to be the greatest revolution for local businesses since, well, ever. And while the title makes a grandiose statement “Student-led campaign supports Richmond businesses, aims to halt corporate takeovers”, there’s really nothing in the article that then addresses corporate takeovers, not by the author or any statements from Chamberlin. But that’s more an issue with the article than with ShopRVA.
The website is just there. From a design standpoint it’s not bad (simple, kinda pretty), but in the realm of functionality it’s lacking. Not a whole lot of information is given as to what ShopRVA really aims to do aside from a paragraph or two as a mission statement. You an request to be partnered, but what does that get you other than a listing on the site? Speaking of the listing, it’s page four, under “Partners”. Not only should it probably be up front and center but a big better presentation would be more useful than a straight list. According to the CT article they’re aiming to have a Google Map of the businesses which will be nice, but in the current design where will that fit?
Part of this may stem from the fact that this is the result of a graphic design project and may simply focus too much on presentation and not enough on actual interaction or how best to deliver some content. Or maybe I’m just spoiled by the pretty, rich in detail and presentation community sites that have been popping up lately (RVANews for one). Yes, it’s just getting started, but with such a whimper that I wonder if it’ll grow the legs it’ll need to last.