YAYYYY!
Finally, after 10 websites ranging from acceptable to mediocre, I arrived at one that I actually LIKED the instant I arrived.
Somebody working for Genentech “gets it.”
Why did this home page get me excited? Because it has immediate emotional and aesthetic appeal. The design is not imposing, but attractive – the prominent (patient) face graphic, the pleasant color combinations, the subtle graphical design, the non-intrusive menu structure…it all just “works.”
In the graphic shown above, I captured one opened-up pull-down menu, but when you arrive at the site, the horizontal
menu bar is not open until you roll over it. You simply arrive at a captivating image, with one very cool navigational element I’ve never seen implemented quite this way before – a little box with 3 crucial interest areas (Patients, Science, Our People). Perfect.
When you click on the main categories in the horizontal nav bar, a very nice Flash-based graphic (with more great photos!) replaces the big graphical field, and the sub-menu navigation is easy and intuitive. Once you get into the sub-menus, the graphical design theme maintains its attractive simplicity, and you get into more robust paragraphs of text. Yet the use of white space is strikingly well done.
The patient graphic on the home page changes each time you go to the site, and there is a link to a patient story – lots of patient stories (eleven, to be precise)! Each of these is well-designed and implemented – you get a quick summary, then the opportunity to run a video of the story. Beautifully done.
What else to say? A+. Every other pharma company can learn from this site. Well done, Genentech – you’ve raised the bar!
Prior website reviews:
Impactiviti blog 
[…] 22, 2008 by Steve Woodruff Having so enjoyed reviewing Genentech’s website, I thought I’d investigate the home page of another major West Coast biotech – […]
Agreed. Phenomenal website. Clean. Easy. Impactful. Maybe we will one day move away from the generic pharma and pharma or biotech company page. You understand Genetech’s position the moment you reach this site. Too many others requiring heavy petting before you really know what they stand for.