Nobody cares about your website
This may be a funny thing for a web designer to say, but it’s largely true. Most people don’t come to most websites to see how great a logo is, or the fonts and colours used. To see the latest, greatest animation or graphical treatment.
They come to see what you’ve got for them. What problem (of theirs!) you might solve. What inspiration/information you can offer through your words, pictures, or sounds.
Still, the design of the site matters
Knowing that impressions of your credibility can be formed by viewing your website in as little as 1/20th of a second, it’s safe to say that your website’s design still influences how people receive whatever you’re offering. In that amount of time one can only get some impression of the site through major design decisions like colour choices and perhaps graphic style.
In a sense, your website is like a picture frame: it should support and complement whatever it is you’re displaying. It shouldn’t be the main attraction, distracting from your picture.
Well said Tzaddi…may I use parts of this for an email I am sending out?
Suguar — February 10th, 2010, 10:23 pmI laughed about the “font” part…remembering how I kvetched over the many hundreds I poured over.
Thanks Suguar. Feel free to quote me. If I put it out on my blog it’s fair game, eh? (Which reminds me, I should update this site with creative commons licensing on the blog…)
And to be clear, I’m not saying you shouldn’t kvetch over fonts, your logo details etc. *I* certainly do! But, bottom line is most people will come to your site for what you’re offering and it’s up to the design support that without getting in the way.
I’m working on a site for an artist, and he came into it wanting the website and logo to be a real statement: very bold in and of itself. It’s been an interesting journey to help him discover that just as he wouldn’t choose a Rococo frame for his art, his site also should be sleek and subtle to push his art to the foreground.
Tzaddi — February 11th, 2010, 11:09 amIt’s funny you write this and with this headline. I have an unpublished post titled, “Nobody cares about your brand.” I wrote a few months back but haven’t published it because it’s only half-thought through.
I agree with what you say. I’m amazed at the totally out of whack attention ratio clients have between look and content. I think it’s partly that every one can “see” design and think they know something about it (rarely the case). It’s harder to think up what is actually going on the site. Design also gets associated with razzle-dazzle and looking “cool,” whereas the best design mostly goes unnoticed because it allows for focus on the content and ease of use.
My “brand” post isn’t about design but brands though they are related. My issue with brands is the focus on product not people. The relationship with design is, I think, a focus on the look and not the user. I guess it all boils down to the old “putting the cart before the horse” thing.
Bill Wren — February 12th, 2010, 7:33 amBill Wren´s last blog ..Respecting the work
rock on, sistah… very well put.
kera — March 26th, 2010, 9:29 pm