Amazon Gets Creative with WordPress

eCommerce wunderkind Amazon really needs no introduction.  Its store platform and servers are among the most respected, trusted and stable in the world. Time and time again, Amazon has weathered the online storms from bubbles and crashes, to scaling and security. So you can imagine how delighted I was to learn that they decided to go on a hiring campaign for creativity, choosing WordPress as their Contentment Management platform.

The new site is completely separate from their eCommerce services and focuses on giving their company, team members and facilities a vibrant, human face.  Reaching out to find “creative” talent, Amazon’s design recruitment site harnesses the chameleon-like possibilities of WordPress to create an asymmetrical grid of images and photos that captures the viewers eye, leading them from image to image. Visitors are treated to a visual cascade of staff, work space, campus and city imagery supplemented with text, that while sparse, provides the perfect amount of impact without being “busy.”  The images themselves enjoy a light treatment, with the occasional vintage filter or ragged border, but for the most part are casual.

The overall effect risks being chaotic but ultimately, I feel it captures the creative and casual spirit they are trying to embody.

Technologically, there is nothing particularly exotic going on here.  Some randomization (perhaps), lightbox modals and integrated social sharing linking. Design Amazon is an excellent example of letting the content do the talking and not becoming obsessed with tricks and wow-factor effects.  A lot of heavy animation and Flash sites could learn a valuable lesson from Amazon’s approach on this project.

But enough with the web review, let the site speak for itself:  Design Amazon.

Oh, and if you think you have the chops… they’re hiring.  🙂

 

If you’d like to see how WordPress can transform your web site and allow you to take the reins of your online presence, we offer many quickly deployable solutions for new WordPress users and enhancements and services for existing WordPress sites.