Ello on Gartner’s Hype Cycle

Get hype for today’s post! In my final review for Ello, The Creator’s Network, I’m going to discuss Ello’s position relative to Gartner’s Hype Cycle. For those of you who don’t know, “the hype cycle is a graphical representation of the life cycle stages a technology goes through from conception to maturity and widespread adoption.” For more information on the hype cycle, click here.

hype cycle

Basically, the cycle depicts five stages of a technology to better understand it’s place in the market. As detailed in my first post on Ello, the network had an interesting and rocky start. From it’s inception in 2014, the site gained a lot of traction and interest in pop culture. People’s exaggerated confidence with little knowledge of the social media’s actual use plunged Ello high into the Peak of Inflated Expectations stage of the hype cycle.

Shortly thereafter, though, the realization that Ello was not what people expected plummeted it’s reputation and use. This huge dip is described as the Trough of Disillusionment, in which user’s high expectations lead to disappointment and abandonment of the technology.

From the lowest of lows, Ello had to work to rebrand and regain the confidence of the public. Since the website was misleadingly equated to Facebook, Ello had to demonstrate what they were really about. Slowly but surely, people began to understand the concept of the art-centric social media platform. This recovery is known as the Slope of Enlightenment, where the technology becomes more broadly understood and accepted.

In my opinion, Ello is still working towards the Plateau of Productivity. The platform’s users clearly understand and enjoy the function of the network; however, the public is still behind on their perceptions of Ello’s purpose and legitimacy.

Because of Ello’s specific target audience, it’s likely that the millions of people who first loved, and then hated, Ello as a Facebook alternative will never return or understand the real use of the social network. As long as Ello continues to grow and thrive in the art community, though, the platform will hopefully reach widespread maturity and stable success in the future.

Ello’s User Experience

Lately, I’ve been discussing the creative network, Ello. If you missed my last post about the social media’s audience, check it out to better understand today’s update. As mentioned, Ello is a platform for artists, and is a great way for them to connect with each other, business opportunities, and fans. To be fully functional for these audiences, Ello’s interface must be appropriately designed to satisfy their needs.

The website is immediately attractive to artists, as the homepage features an array of artwork and interesting information for creative types. As an art-lover myself, I already had a positive user experience from the moment I found Ello because of the network’s simplicity and aesthetic appeal.

A nice feature is that visitors can browse content and posts without creating an account, which is a good way to entice people to join. Once convinced, creating an account is simple and fast, requiring only basic information. Ello asks new users to identify themselves as “artists” or “fans,” as to tailor the experience to your use of the network. I really liked this because since I am not an artist, my dashboard is cleaner with only features I would use.

After creating an account, the user is asked to subscribe to their favorite media, such as photography, illustration, digital, and so many more. This is another appealing feature for Ello’s audience because it allows users to customize their experience to their interests.

The Ello homepage and dashboard is clean and simple as to not distract from the artwork on display. The wording is clear and everything is labelled appropriately, making navigation very straightforward and easy.

To me, it’s clear that Ello’s user interface and information architecture were designed with the audience in mind. The ease of use and the logical arrangement of information is appealing to artists who want an outlet to share their art, the fans who simply want to browse their favorite styles, and for brands who are scouting talent and inspiration for future projects.

Below, is a UI sitemap that shows the clarity of navigation of Ello. The map was created from the point of view of a logged in member. (Sorry it’s hard to see! Zoom!)

sitemap

Who is Ello for?

ello

In my last post, I introduced my latest find, Ello. If you haven’t already, check out that post here. As previously mentioned, Ello is branded The Creators Network. So, it seems obvious that their target audience is just creators. However, the platform’s purpose is much larger. The network’s website establishes that “Ello re-imagines the future of creative work by providing a contemporary forum and virtual workplace for artists, brands, agencies, publishers, and their fans.”

With a global community of 625K artists in 175 countries, Ello provides artists with a space to call their own. The network is tailored to their unique needs and includes features to support their creative careers. The collaborative aspect of the network attracts creatives to post, share, and give feedback to their peers. According to Wired.com, Ello’s artists see the platform as “a way to present their digital portfolio to a like-minded, supportive community.” They are able to exchange techniques and styles and seek out others for inspiration. Perhaps the most significant advantage to artists is the exposure they receive through the website.

Brands, agencies, and publishers seeking to commission artists for certain projects, talent to join their teams, or specific media for campaigns can use Ello to find what they’re looking for. By using the “Discover” feature and browsing different categories of creative work, the platform makes it easy to find new people. If a company finds an artist they’re interested in working with, all they need to do is go to their profile and click “Hire” to send the artist a message proposing the collaboration.

Creatives and brands can also both benefit from using Ello with their Artist Invites program. The technology connects the Ello artist community with brands, agencies, publishers and fans through real-time creative briefs. This feature is extremely valuable to provide artists with career opportunities and provide businesses with a suitable creative match.

The platform also supports artists through Art Giveaways. Basically, Ello buys work from artists and gives it away to fans in the community. This program provides an exciting benefit and incentive of being an art-lover in the community.

These features, among many more, have made Ello an attractive platform for artists, companies, and fans alike. To learn more about some of the features mentioned above, visit Ello’s website here.

The Latest: Ello

So, Ello isn’t new. The social platform was created in March 2014 and deemed an ad-free rival to Facebook. This reputation piqued the interest of many, and the site was shrouded in mystery due to its originally invite-only registration. Because of the high interest from social media users, in a short few months, Ello grew to nearly 3 million members. However, behind all the hype was a confusing and buggy site that was unable to reach the expectations of the flock of new users. Just as fast as they rose, Ello fell far below its competition and off our minds.

This video demonstrates just how big Ello got in it’s early stages, and how Ello was perceived to rival Facebook.

So how is Ello the latest? Well, while nobody was watching, Ello reinvented itself into “The Creators Network.” Ello is now a blossoming community of digital artists, designers, and art lovers who use the platform to discover and connect with fellow creatives.

Competition

Since Ello distanced itself from being the anti-Facebook, it’s found a niche in the social networking world for the creative community. Still, this is not without competition. The two main competitors facing Ello are Pinterest and Instagram. Both of these social media giants are focused on visual sharing and aesthetically appealing content.

Pinterest is a huge resource for creative inspiration and sharing. The platform boasts seemingly-endless posts of photography, fashion, digital art, illustrations, etc. Because of the site’s popularity, the instinct to surf Pinterest for artistry will be tough to break.

Being one of the largest social networks in the world, Instagram is arguably Ello’s greatest competitor. Since Instagram is a visual platform, the app has become a top spot for sharing creative pieces. With so many art-focused accounts, posts, and hashtags, Instagram provides a popular tool to find new artists.

Despite the overlap of content, Ello’s target audience is much more defined than that of Pinterest and Instagram. Ello never intended to be the all-encompassing social media, or the “Facebook Killer,” but instead aimed to be a hub for creativity to flourish. While users can find artistic content on Pinterest or Instagram, the platforms are not created with that in mind. Ello lets users tailor their experience by their creative interests and allows for more creative freedom. The platform doesn’t limit word count, photo ratios, or nudity, unlike their competition. Ello also provides lucky users the opportunity to be featured artists or to collaborate with brands. The list of art-centric features goes on and on, but the point is that Ello has created a unique network that meets needs their competition does not.

To learn more about Ello’s edge over Instagram and other competitors, check out this article.