STYLE CAD COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS TEAM GRM Guan Wang, Ryan Chavez, Melody Kim

TABLE OF CONTENTS Client Needs User Needs Competitors Brand Projection Site Architecture Functionality Content Navigation Design

CLIENT NEEDS I. General purpose website for StyleCAD II. Target local customers III. Showcase the product, specifically through video demos, to make sales

I. Provide software support II. Keep users updated USER NEEDS I. Provide software support II. Keep users updated

SELECTION OF COMPETITORS GERBER TECHNOLOGY Considered the #1 patternmaking CAD system today. LECTRA Patternmaking CAD system from France. A fashion industry oriented company .

SELECTION OF COMPETITORS TUKATECH Patternmaking CAD system cited by many users in our user survey. OPTITEX Considered the main competitor from Israel.

SELECTION OF COMPETITORS PAD Another main competitor from Canada, based in Hong Kong. AUTODESK Non-patternmaking software & non-competitor. Considered the #1 CAD software today.

BRAND PROJECTION What we dislike The blue color scheme of Gerber Technology’s homepage, along with the sharp lines, simple deliver the connotation that they are a professional corporation that is expected to be a global player in the CAD Systems market. There are no “tricks up their sleeve,” as what you see is what you get. The appeal of Autodesk is to come off as sleek, informative yet clean. Autodesk excels in doing this by providing an edgy brand that is everything a serious corporate website should aspire to look like.

BRAND PROJECTION What we dislike Opitex’s website shows little effort to convey a brand. Their designs are out of date and unattractive. PAD Systems has a lack of branding. Their site looks like a spam site- one you want to leave quickly out of fear of getting a virus. Material is vaguely styled. Pictures are not thematic in any way.

SITE ARCHITECTURE What we like Lectra has a relatively simple navigation setup where information is organized by topic. What is appreciated is the left sidebar nav on sub pages with extra buffer info on right. Helps deliver added information about the company and their goals. Site architecture is well manufactured, information is sorted well, and further sorted into sub-categories that are distinguishable. The architecture of the content is not overwhelming with.

SITE ARCHITECTURE What we dislike Information architecture for Gerber Technology is very restricted. This gives the impression that there is little information available. But after spending time exploring the site, one learns there is a large amount of content to browse. Info needs to be spread out and organized in a more friendly way. Opitex has a poor architecture of content, very disorganized. Similar navigation elements contain different sub categories, impairs recognition and recall.

FUNCTIONALITY Lectra Positives: Gerber Positives: Link to different regions for an international company. Useful in-site search bar Negatives: Users can login for customer support but this feature is not readily available on the homepage Provide online social media connection that is great for online marketing. Lectra Positives: - Newsletter Subscription with different options and language selections - "Share" button for social media network Negatives: - "Contact"button for contacting event coordinators Opitex Positives: Provide login function on the home page Allow users to register mail list Provide social media network button that users can easily share information on their twitter, facebook account

FUNCTIONALITY Positives: Autodesk has a good in-site store, where users can shop and compare the products online Opitex Negatives: These are clickable youtube link. However, there is no indicator, such as hand shape, when the cursor is hovered on the youtube preview images. In addition, these is no title for each link. Users have no idea what each video is about

CONTENT What we like Gerber: - Showing the latest news about the company and the software developing tells users the website is up-to-date - Slides with pictures and short description of the main features of the software show what the company does and its strength Opitex Positives: - Offers many support information, including phone number, address, and email. - It has special information for world customer and necessary websites Lectra Positives: - Showing customer spotlight - Showing both press releases and upcoming event on the homepage - Industry selections Tukatech Positives: Tukatech list education information such as school, learning center and academy where users can learn about their software.

CONTENT Autodesk Positives: Autodesk also provides user and business community, where individual can share each personal experience Gerber Negatives: List few external links without explaining what they are for Lectra Negatives: Only phone numbers are listed, no email addresses OptiTex Negatives: Content is not categorized very well. For example, under the "About US" category, it includes information like careers and Press kit. These content may be better appear in other category.

NAVIGATION What we like Gerber: Showing each feature through a designed model Lectra: - Use breadcrumb navigation as a way to show users where they are within an app or a site - Provide a vertical navigation bar to provide assist navigation process PAD: Clean navigation bar with login, register and cart information on the top-right

NAVIGATION What we dislike Gerber: The top navigation bar seems very organized, but it often requires redundant steps under the drop-down menu to go to a page. For example, a user simply wants to check the general service agreement, the user must select whether it is software or hardware, and then select the particular system. The general link "Service Agreements" is not clickable. We suggest combining some pages would reduce user steps. Optitex: Poor user control navigation bar. The navigation link automatically expands even the cursor is still far away from the link Lectra: The top navigation bar does not keep consistent on their second layer pages

DESIGN What we like PAD’s site is really basic and is very aesthetically displeasing. The colors scheme for the site clashes and the graphics present on the homepage look elementary. Optitex’s site is also aesthetically displeasing with a lot of clashing elements strewn all over the site. There is some sort of a color scheme however, the site is more reminiscent of a prescription drug website.

DESIGN What we dislike Autodesk’s site is by far the most sleek and aesthetically pleasing. Simple and minimal, the main content is highlighted by the design aspects such as color, gradients and grid layout. Beautiful images are used in the slideshow which adds to the whole site. Lectra’s site design came second. Aesthetically, the site is really plain however, the very few colors that are present are cohesive (aside from the industry section).

TAKE AWAY Brand - We should aim to make StyleCAD sleek and condensed in appearance while remaining professional with corporate and global attitude. Drawing inspiration from both Gerber Tech and Autodesk Site Architecture - Content for StyleCAD needs to be condensed to show fewer words and well organized. As of now, StyleCAD fails to do this, which makes their site look unattractive and out of date. This is drawing inspiration from Autodesk and Lectra’s sites.

TAKE AWAY Functionality – Having basic functions available like a search form and login forms to facilitate customer support will really help the site be more useful to all types of user groups. Content – This competitive analysis revealed a lot of different ways to engage users using various content like communities, customer spotlights etc. Support services were organized cleverly which are all good points to incorporate into the StyleCAD site.