I'm going to try ro be brief, but it's not always possible. ;)
1) The site is right away to plain. Plain can be good in moderation but in this case everything contrasts, it gives off a feeling of old and outdated...why trust it?
I had a look at the Damashi site and, to tell the truth, I found it tacky, uninviting, and less than informative about what is actually on the site. Even a banner saying 'Book of the Month' above the tome shown on the home page would give a clue that more treasures lie within.
My first impression when viewing the Damashi site is how "sales copy" it looks. I appreciate the need for good sales ad, but when I'm looking to purchase something online, I don't need a hard sale.
The image map definitely needs to go. Image maps are often nice, but more often they are problems.
As an owner of 2 martial arts web sites and a web designer, I have spent a lot of time on the web looking at martial arts related sites. This site's general look is rather amateurish and not atmosphere producing. It does not make me want to buy the products.
I found the Damashi Site to be a very "plain Jane" site, but the site structure is solid along with the order forms are clear and functional.
The site has an inconsistent and incomplete feel. Individual elements are attractive such as the ideogram and script at the top of the initial page. But the navigation links at the bottom of the page clash with their red and blue fonts. Moving forward to the shopping cart and the page scheme changes from a yellow theme to a pale green. There's merit in having sections of the website that differ in function also differ slightly in color yet remain unified in design. This site didn't apply that throughout all pages though. One expects a site related to Oriental subjects to display a sense of Zen. Develop the style of the initial page banner and apply it throughout the site. And use CSS to make it easier to maintain.
I decided to take a look at the Damashi website because I also have a martial arts site.
I used the following criteria to evaluate the site:
When I first entered the Damashi website, I was rather impressed with the clarity and simplicity of the home page. The links are in plain English, and self explanatory. It loaded fast, and though rather plain by some standards, is not unattractive.
The biggest problems with the Damashi web site are visual. (And the fact that I couldn't access the shopping cart due to 404 - Object Not Found errors.) The site contains a distinct market niche of which the owners are clearly experts. The products are logically organized, and combination specials are displayed when a user views either of the components. Normally I am not in favor of alphabetical listings of products, but in this case the listing is not overwhelmingly long enough to make a negative impact.
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