AARP Bulletin Website Review

AARP Bulletin's website

You’ve got to like a website that can credibly present a headline such as “Ex-Akron teacher, 85, crowned Ms. Senior Ohio” along with a headline such as “The Rolling Stones shine a light on Exile on Main St. reissue.” Because, let’s not forget, The Rolling Stones are chronologically seniors, much like Ms. Senior Ohio, however nimble Mick Jagger may appear as he prances around the stage.

That website is the digital version of the AARP Bulletin, the monthly news-oriented publication of the American Association of Retired People. The Bulletin is the sibling publication to the bimonthly AARP Magazine, which will be reviewed separately and with which it shares some content. Its audience is a broad one as noted above, Americans 50 years of age and older.

Since that demographic takes in virtually all strata of society, it would be all too easy for the site to lack and lose focus. In fact this website is one of the most successful I’ve examined because it knows clearly what it wants to do and how to do it. It begins by being, as they say, “easy on the eyes.” Far too many websites today are dreadful visual jumbles that are design nightmares. If the cardinal principle of design is to lead the eye and thus the mind, most websites—and far too many printed documents—are primary offenders, doing, often, precisely the opposite. Too often one feels thrown into a stew of information in which one is expected to swim successfully. Good luck!

By contrast the Bulletin begins by not overdoing it. For one thing the type isn’t minuscule—thank you! There aren’t too many images competing for attention on each landing page—thank you! The site overall is fresh, fair and focused. And with an audience this broad, one can scarcely ask for more.

Strength of Content: 9
The Table of Contents makes the overarching view of the site clear. There are six tabs: Front Page / Your Health / Your Money / Your World / In Your State  / Opinions and Ideas. Note the “you” in four of the six: The clear implication is that this is your site, whoever “you” are, American senior.

In each of the six areas there is a blend of content original to AARP with links to news outlets both major and minor. (It’s amusing to see stories from The New York Times and The Boston Globe appearing alongside stories from The Island Packet.) There is therefore an overall feeling of both density and depth to support the coverage.

Additionally, taking advantage of electronic publishing, there are daily updates to each section when appropriate. As I write this, the news of the passage of a financial reform bill in Congress is appearing based upon yesterday’s developments in Washington.

Content runs the gamut from serious to less, as one would expect. This is a site about the totality of life for people 50 years old and older in which pressing personal questions on health and finance, for example, can commingle with such things as “Myth Buster: Can you sanitize kitchen tools with lemon juice and salt?” (Answer: usually.)

Social Media Sophistication: 8
Generally speaking, this tends to be a sphere of later adopters. But that apparently hasn’t stopped readers from embracing opportunities to contribute. There is a very broad array of blogs that one can pursue and participate in with quite continual refreshments. “More than one million users,” the site tells us, “are building an online photo album filled with images of life’s most enriching experiences.” We’re invited to do the same. One can follow AARP-related developments on Twitter and join Facebook.

Additionally, there are invitations to Community Commentary with reference to financial challenges and problems that readers submit. There’s a fun section called Hear Ye! Hear Ye! in which readers can track and ponder legal situations drawn from real life. And there are ongoing essays on all subjects framed as What I Really Know that reflect wise, tender and even passionate observations.

Ease of Use and Navigation: 9
This is one of the site’s real achievements. What is “above the fold” isn’t crowded, but usually features one appealing visual image, which rotates in a series of four, for the primary coverage for that section (Your Health, Your Money, etc.). Something of the ethos of AARP is made clear by these four tabs at the top of the image: Join/Renew / Find a Discount / Donate / Volunteer, all of which take one directly into sections specific to those interests.

There is an easy and logical navigation column to the left of the image with 14 categories that one can choose from. It’s entirely possible to browse this site, clicking quickly from entry to entry. Or, alternately, to stay very focused on a health or financial or political subject, going deeper and deeper into related content.

Some attention is clearly being given to search methods currently. Headlines are being created that are generally short and obvious—"Sizing Up Your Bank’s Health,” “When Possessions Rule Your Life,” “Saving on Shaving,” for examples.

Design & Layout: 9
A chronological senior myself, I know all about the deteriorations of aging. One, of course, is eyesight, and it’s this, I’ll guess, which has led the designers of the site to design in a style that virtually all Web designers could learn from.

Too much website design packs it in too densely. Not this one. As one scrolls down the landing pages of each section, the screen features an appealingly airy, uncrowded page design that lets components breathe and therefore attract.

Font choices have evidently been made primarily for readability. Headline sizes are assertive, compelling and balanced. Type leading is generous, adding both to readability and draw. Images illustrate effectively.

Advertising exists but isn’t obtrusive. If anything, it’s surprising to see how restrained it is for such a very large audience.

Use of Technology: 7
This site is free of gimmickry. But it’s not ignoring communications tools that draw readers effectively regardless of age. For example, there are timely podcasts that bring authors and other experts forward. Such an author is Theodore Roszak, famous for his book The Making of a Counter Culture that described the tumult of the 1960s. He’s now the author of The Making of an Elder Culture, and steps forward nicely in a 20-plus-minute podcast.

Additionally there are videos on all manner of subjects, some of them imported from YouTube.

Searches can be organized by either Best Match or Date, which is helpful.

Summary

The score says it: 42 points out of 50. This website aims at the totality of the 50-plus life and succeeds in capturing and portraying it in a fashion that is ultimately invitingly human. Seniors are principally affected by issues of finance and health, which are treated seriously and thoroughly. But the richness of the life they’ve/we’ve already lived is an important mine of commentary and inclusion. There is a real sense of warmth about this site, and a maturity of approach that is never condescending or over-simplifying.

I particularly liked this small emblematic touch. In an uncluttered upper-left-hand corner of a page given over to “smart tips,” there was this tease: “France is the land of lovers, right? Au contraire.” One clicked into a story reporting that Americans are apparently at least as inclined toward romance as the storied French. But the fact that the site would use the witty “Au contraire” as part of its tease said a volume about the taste of the writer, and their trust of the audience.

Note: Subsequent to our posting, mediabistro offered its own review of the redesign of AARP.org, and we encourage your reading. There's some excellent data on the usage habits of AARP members gained from the vice president of marketing, and it can all be found at this link.

Posted By: Duncan Christy