(Australian online designs only)
Go there in your mind: The bride is beautiful. As the music plays she waltzes down the aisle in all her splendour. Relatives and friends gaze in wondrous awe as she and her procession travel towards the groom at the front. Her snow-colour gown is a dazzling white. Her jewellery glimmers…
Now, rewind the procession, and replay. This time, it’s different. Picture this: The ceremony is about to start. The seated audience turns to the closed doors toward the back of the reception hall, as the music begins. The doors open, and the bride appears. The crowd gasps in shock as she steps onto the carpet and heads down the center aisle. Instead of a gown, she is wearing an upside down garbage bag, with her arms and head poking out of gaping holes, torn into the bag. Some of last night’s pizza hangs from her frizzy hair. Her bottom half is covered by ripped tracksuit pants smelling like maggot-infested rabbit carcasses. Her bare feet are baked in mud, and her makeup resembles a dropped pie.
Now think of your website. Or, your company’s blog. Which of the above two descriptions best fits? Let’s face it – your online presence is like your bride. It needs to impress. In needs to be attractive to the groom who is, after all, expecting a long-term relationship.
So, is your site somewhere in the middle? Well, that’s not good enough. Chances are, your designer has dutifully applied some of these terrible techniques:
There’s a tendency with some designers to fill every corner of every page of your site with content, because Content is King. Although it is king, your designer can take this too far, and forego the beauty that comes with wide, open space. Content can go somewhere else. Remember this: big, blocks of space and flat colour is okay. In fact, that’s the key secret behind why so many people use Google’s search page. It’s an open field. It also obeys the Rule of 7 – there are no more than 7 links together in any particular space.
It’s so common, and it’s terrible for online design. Important buttons should be bigger. Important text should be more prominent. You can make it look good and include a variety of sized buttons. The most important button should stand out the most – simple. Your hierarchy of information should be reflected by the size and prominence of the buttons and text.
So, their website offers proactive e-commerce solutions for an innovative, web2.0-savvy market? Sorry, I just vomited in my mouth. Readers look for transparency, real people, and trustworthy information. They’re not looking for a cute mission statement on your home page. Ugh. Clichés may have worked when your website was built, back in the 90’s when 3 out of 4 of your competitors didn’t even have an online presence. Now, a few clichés and your potential buyers bounce off your site as quickly as they arrive. Check out this takeoff of corporate cliques for a laugh.
If you’re creating online ambiance ‘cause you’re a restaurant, clothing shop or a stylish hair boutique, then it might work. But, if your target market is browsing your site during business hours, don’t bother with it. Workers don’t like sudden, unexpected tunes screaming from their open-office desktop. If you still want music, then make the “off” button really obvious.
What will your clients think if your site looks like this? No further explanation necessary.
A-list blogger, Darren Rowse of Problogger.net says that he will leave your site if it’s poorly designed in three seconds – regardless of the quality of the content. Common problems include non-programmers making a half baked attempt at editing a pre-purchased or free theme. If you’re changing your template, then use a licenced online designer.
And, end up with a site like this:
No, really: go to some of the best awards sites like webbyawards.com to get ideas. Also, if you’re an Australian web designer, you can submit sites to the Australian-designer exclusive site websiteidol.com.au where you can also get feedback on your designs. The site is targeted at Australian businesses looking for an Australian designer.
Submit your design or browse the designs here.
| Live Site | |
| Design Credit | |
| Category | Blog |
| Date | 19th October 2010 |
[...] I just wrote an article on that site about 10 Terrible Online Design Tecniques. It’s based on our expertise (which did help Nick Dube and I win “Best Law firm [...]
Check out The Oatmeal’s take on being a Web Designer:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
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