J.Crew vs. Old Navy

When comparing the websites for Old Navy and J.Crew there is a clear difference. They are targeted for different audiences and the visual rhetoric reveals that.

The J.Crew website is mostly colorless. It keeps a simple black and white theme through out the site, the only exception being the navy clothes. The font is sleek and black on a white background. The site is steam lined. For the most part, this website conveys a sense of style and being fashion forward. It is "classy" and understated. The website reflects the clothes that J.Crew sells. The purpose of the website is to advertise and sell the clothes they produce. This is done by making J.Crew seem stylish and sleek. They are targeting an audience that is looking to be fashionable, as well as a wealthier audience than the audience Old Navy targets. For the audience that they are targeting, J.Crew does a good job of conveying the style and exclusivity that J.Crew embodies.

The Old Navy website is quite different than the J.Crew website. While the J.Crew site was streamlined, sleek, and used minimal colors, the Old Navy website is full of different colors and patterns. This site gives more of a fun and exciting vibe. The colors are all bright like yellow, pink and light blue. Old Navy is targeting a less wealthy audience than J.Crew and doesn't give the vibe of exclusivity that J.Crew does. Old Navy is marketing to families, as there are many pictures of children as well as adults. For the audience that Old Navy is trying to reach, the rhetorical choices made are effective. The bright colors and patterns are attractive to children, and parents of children, and they give the idea of openness. In a way, Old Navy markets itself as the clothes of the people.

The differences between the Old Navy and the J.Crew website are extreme, which is surprising because they sell a lot of the same style of clothes. The main difference that governs almost everything about the two websites, is their audiences. While J.Crew is trying to market to the "elite," Old Navy is marketing to normal everyday people.