Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Design: It’s Not About You
I’ve had a few conversations recently with co-workers and clients that have brought me to realize something I feel strongly about. I refuse to succumb to the design fantasies of my clients simply because I want to make a buck. There comes a time, sometimes more than once, that I have to be brutally honest and say “no, I won’t do that” because I start thinking about the people who will have to use the design. So what happens when a client really, really wants me to do a particular thing for them, but I know that it will ultimately fail the usability (and usefulness) test? I can either tell the client to look elsewhere (an extreme measure that I don’t ever really want to take), or try to help them see it from my…er…the customer’s point of view.
One of the best ways to do this is to paint a real-world scenario for the client. A great example of this is a conversation I had recently with a friend who was bedazzled by a fancy Flash template. She sought my advice about using the template and I gave her my honest opinion. With a big smile on my face I said “It’s very pretty! But if you use it be prepared to alienate anyone with an iPhone.” This came as a great surprise to her. Is it true? iPhone users can’t see Flash-based websites? Yes, it’s true. And that’s not all. That’s just a technical reason for not using the Flash template. What about the people who are visiting your site to find information on your rates, your services, and your contact info? Will they have to trip and stumble over animations before they can find useful content? Will they abandon your site before they ever find what they’re looking for?
Don’t get me wrong, I love Flash. I also believe that Flash has its place in online experiences. Given the right circumstances and situations, it can enhance the user experience. I’ve been looking for Whimzy Pets for my niece for Christmas. The Whimzy site uses Flash to show off the cuteness of these miniature stuffed animals and somehow it made me even more excited to buy them (it might have been the video of little girl falling into the huge pile of fuzzy stuffed animals that did it for me). So Flash is not evil or useless. It just needs to be used with caution, or not used at all, in websites aimed at providing people with easy-to-access content.
But backing up to the original point is that we need to be thinking about our customers when making design decisions. Is your target audience busy, young, single women who are probably in the car, running errands and visiting friends way more than they are at home? Then consider the fact that they may be browsing the web on a mobile device more often than on a desktop computer. Think about how you can get the right information to them in a quick and convenient way from multiple avenues. Keep your eye on the customer and you will increase user satisfaction, boost sales, and strengthen your brand.
So what about the argument that websites should show some personal expression? You may think “I’m a fun gal, so I want my website to be fun. People should visit it and feel the spirit of fun flowing from the screen into their very souls. They will know me by my bold and wild fonts, my vibrant colors, my use of animated images. And they will want to buy into all that I have to offer.” The truth is that your customers, those who are visiting your site, aren’t any different than you are. Try to remember the last time you visited such a site and actually wanted to escape the “fun” as quickly as possible. You were probably there to do something, to find some information, and you couldn’t handle the unnecessary distractions because of limited time. There’s certainly something to be said for simplicity here. And I do believe you can combine personal expression with simplicity and get an amazing result. But keep in mind while you express yourself that what is meaningful to you must also be meaningful to the viewer.
To paraphrase a saying from American writer and theologian Frederick Buechner, your brand is “…where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” So, that may be a bit extreme, but there’s at least an ounce of truth to extract here when thinking about your voice to the online world. Think about what you have to offer, think about what the world needs, and do what you can to gracefully bridge the gap between the two.
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