September 24, 2019
UX Reviewed: Global TEDx websites (Interactive)
In this article:
I love a good TED talk.And with the development of the TEDx concept to establish locally organised 'franchised' versions of the TED concept, we've seen a democratisation of the TED talk. Any one with an interesting experience or perspective can potentially speak at an event - and you don't need to pay the US$10,000 to attend the global conference (if you are accepted to attend).In our day to day we make sure we keep ourselves across interesting websites and web design solutions, and it's common for us to come across a TEDx website that demonstrates a concept or idea that we want to communicate with a client.So we figured why not look at them holistically and present back some of the interesting web design concepts and usability practices we have found in our travels.- The task
- The Australian: TEDx Sydney
- The Transitional: TEDx Copenhagen
- The Double Deluxe: TEDx Bethesda
- Refined Simplicity: TEDx Portland
- The Original: TED Global
- The Wow Factor
- Our ranking
The task
The TEDx website ultimately is an event website.An event website doesn't need to be complicated. But there are a couple of things the website likely needs to achieve.The core challenge is to create an impression of interest and curiosity in the event. While it is a TEDx event, they are locally organised, and so the quality of the event is going to be largely influenced by the quality of the organisers.- Create an impression of an innovative and well resourced event
- High light the quality of the speakers
- Make sure it is as simple as possible to purchase tickets.
The Australian: TEDx Sydney
The Transitional: TEDx Copenhagen
The Double Deluxe: TEDx Bethesda
Refined Simplicity: TEDx Portland
The Original: TED Global
The Global TED website is a little different to the other TEDx sites we reviewed. They don't push the creative or innovation angle for the event.Why? They don't need to. The TED brand is already well established as being innovative and forward thinking. They have a bigger problem of trying to provide some kind of meaningful and useful system to enable users to browse the many thousands of videos - without users necessarily looking for anything in specific. They are just looking to be inspired.The Wow Factor
The interesting thing about the TEDx websites was the justified utility of adding in a Wow factor into the website.As an event, you want people to get excited about what you are doing, you want to push them over the contemplation threshold to a place where they think they can't miss out of the event.Normally, we don't recommend investing as much into creating a statement piece like this, but it makes sense for this type of website, for this brand.Our ranking

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