Invitastic Brings Online Invitations Back to Basics

Lots of companies think they can improve online event invitations, mostly by building out social networking features that facilitate interaction before and after events.

Invitastic, a newly-released project by Jackson Fish Market (which brought us Tafiti and They’re Beautiful!), heads in the other direction by making invitations pleasingly simple and straightforward.

As Jackson Fish Market says best in its own words, “there are lots of things you can’t do here…create a social network, plan party activities, split the tab for the event, figure out carpool arrangements, find recipes for Mai Tais, and more. There are pretty much a limitless number of things that Invitastic doesn’t do.” I should add, you can’t even change how your invitations look and feel (update: you can change the background pattern by clicking on the arrows beside your invite info). All you do to create an invitation is enter an event name, provide a description, and indicate the date, time, and location. To send your invitation out, just provide the names and email addresses of your guests and they will receive an attractive invitation via email with which they can RSVP.

Invitastic’s all about detail and design. The event emails are sharp and easy to read (although the little cartoon they use looks a tad creepy). The emails contain the event organizer’s name in the “From” line instead of Invitastic’s, and an ICS file for importing the event into your favorite calendaring program is automatically attached. Both are nice touches and the email’s overall feel makes it welcoming to users of all computer literacy levels.

A lot of website companies should take notes from Jackson Fish Market. Most importantly, they should notice how much effort this small firm puts into making its websites aesthetically pleasing and usable. Internet users are a fickle bunch; don’t strain their eyes or require them to think more than five seconds to realize what they can do with your site.