Web Design Thoughts

It is often hard to describe to people that I do web application development and not web site design. I have very little in the way of artistic talent, so I am not very good at creating a snazzy look and feel. I am usually good enough at the front end markup to copy something that someone shows me, and I can usually look at a site and see when it is done wrong, but doing it right from scratch, is not my forte. 

Fortunately, most of the web work that I do is application based. The goal is to connect to a data source of some type, either a database or an API, then transfer and process data. The actual web design is very plain because the functionality of the application is what is important. A flashy design would detract from the usability of the application. 

When I talk to customers who want me to create a site, I always ask what they are looking for. Are they looking to create a TV commercial where they are displaying their product, but they aren't directly selling it, or are they trying to interact with their customer?

When you think of the most popular websites, the first sites that come to mind are Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Google is the most famous, and it has their logo and a big search box in the middle of the screen. You really can't get any simpler than that. Facebook is very similar. The center section is made up of the posts and the colors are very basic. The left and right columns can be a little busy, but at the top of the screen is a big search bar. Even Amazon with all of its products and services displayed on the main page has a very simple layout, and again, it has a search bar prominently displayed that catches your eye first. 

These are sites that are designed to interact with the user, and everything about them is designed to make it easy for a user to use the site. If you were to go to Amazon and it was difficult to figure out how to search for a product, Amazon wouldn't be the number one online retailer. There were search engines before Google, but Google is by far the number one. When you go to the site, there is no question about how you do a search. These are the kinds of applications I like to build. 

When you look at a site that is focused on a brand, the interface is much different. If you look at sites like Nike and Under Armour, for example, they are very graphic intensive, and the goal is to grab your attention. Even though they may offer a shopping cart, you can tell by looking at the site that getting you to buy from their site is not their primary concern. You have to click through several levels and every page has distracting content that shows off the entire brand. It isn't easy to purchase on their site because that isn't their business. These sites really expect you to buy somewhere else.

I remember years ago working with a customer on a site that would register events. I was upfront with them and told them that if they wanted a flashy design, we would have to add a designer to the project. After explaining my concept for creating an interactive site that would communicate with a number of different data sources, the owner of the company seemed pretty happy with the concept. I built what I thought was a pretty solid design. When I showed it to the customer, he was happy with the functionality but said it needed more WOW. I asked him if he could be more descriptive, and he said, "you know, more wow". All I could think of was adding little cartoon bubbles like the old Batman show that just say "WOW".

The project ended up falling through, and the customer ended up going with a designer that produced a very graphics heavy site that didn't end up incorporating any of the features I was working on. I don't have any way to know if my design would have encouraged more participation in their events or not, but I was really disappointed with how the project ended. I thought I had communicated the different design approaches, and where my skills fit into the project, but obviously I hadn't. Fortunately, we were able to find the disconnect in a pretty early prototype, so neither of us had wasted too much time going in a direction that wasn't going to work. 

I have been doing consulting work for over 30 years, and I have only had a few projects that didn't meet the customers' expectations. When working on applications where expectations of the client aren't really clear, getting a prototype in front of them as quickly as possible is critical. Too much work on the backend technology can be a real waste if you can't meet the user interface expectations.

What do you think? Do you prefer a simplistic user interface that is easy to use, or do you prefer the cool effects and fancy look and feel? Let me know in the comments section.