Comments on: Web Designers with Blinders Syndrome

By: drew

drew — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:09:28 +0000

Don’t get me started on Awards.

By: drew

drew — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:07:54 +0000

Heidi that “storefront” post was epic. I can’t believe I’d forgotten about it.

By: Michael Stoner

Michael Stoner — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:05:36 +0000

Right on!

You imply, but don’t specifically say, that to be effective, a site should be designed to reach its target audience. So it shouldn’t be about whether a 60-year-old president or a 48-year-old provost “likes” an admissions site, but about whether that site is appealing to and effective with 16 or 17 year-olds, aka “the target audience” for the site.

By: Rob S.

Rob S. — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:05:04 +0000

Visual appeal still matters some, as it makes an impression on the viewer (be it an internal or external customer), as well. Not that you are suggesting otherwise.

I love the post. I like to look at the Web sites of CASE, etc., winners. These are generally visually appealing sites, but sometimes the functionality seems to be lacking. Or is it? Metrics reveal more, but aren’t a criteria in these awards. (The same could be said of winners of print awards…)

By: Heidi Cool

Heidi Cool — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:29:32 +0000

You’ve hit the nail on the head. Many clients will judge a site by the look alone. But you can’t judge a site by it’s cover any more than you can a book. You have to open it up and look inside. But of course, in the case of the Web, one job of the cover is to tell you how to open it up and look inside.

That front page needs to let visitors know they are in the right place–this site offers what they seek; it needs to grab their attention and make them want more; and it needs to clearly guide them to the rest of the content.

Looking at a site onscreen during a presentation, or worse yet printed out on a board is not a way to judge a site’s functionality. It may look shiny and happy, chock full of beautiful photos and all the links the committee wanted, but that isn’t a measure of success. Getting users to come inside, find what they need while also taking an action that serves your own goals is what counts.

For that you need useful, easy to read/view/hear content presented in an easy-to-navigate interface. If you can make that look cool, too, that’s great, but if we focus on the visual appeal first, it may be that our design gets in the way of our usability.