For the most part, I’d answer yes, but at the same time, it may be inevitable.
By the time a web design trend is recognized as such, it is a fait accompli, and practically all new sites begin to look the same. Take a look at the most recent web trends such as Parallax scrolling, long scrolling pages, use of icons, full bleed images, infographics and the list goes on.
As the mobile channel advances toward its tipping point, we are all learning best practices for mobile design, which are not always consistent with web design. Here are 5 key points to keep in mind with your mobile sites.
In two separate client meetings last week the same question arose: is it better to have deep scrolling web pages that require fewer clicks to arrive at desired content, or shorter pages requiring less scrolling but more clicks?
That our clients have become more sophisticated web users is a reflection of the web not being a new medium anymore. We’re finding that our clients are increasingly thinking like information architects about how their audiences will navigate to desired content. It is a time for web designers to examine long-held notions of what constitutes a good UI.
Color can be one of the most important aspects of website design. It involves cultural symbolism, brand significance, and industry norms, and has a strong aesthetic value that can attract or discourage your visitors.
To understand how to think about website navigation for B2B companies, it’s useful to understand B2B audiences. B2B companies are often run by technical people with products and services targeted to other technical people. In our experience creating B2B websites and brands, the common tendency from a website perspective is to push products and services, because one’s features or benefits outshine those of competitors. B2B websites often tend to be challenging to navigate and full of industry insider terminology. It’s not unusual to find no value proposition at all.
I was talking to a European client this morning, He was asking me for examples of websites with navigation typical of an American company. While the client was perhaps looking for cultural distinctions, I thought that website navigation was an interesting topic and one that we are asked about often. The subject warrants a series of posts, so for the sake of brevity, this post will present the macro view. For this discussion, I will address the B2B space.
In the New York Times Annual “Year in Ideas” issue, that came out this past Sunday, December 13, 2009, there are a collection of ideas that the editors believe characterized the year. One idea that caught my attention was titled, “Good Enough is the New Great,” and was described by Robert Mackey. Mackey contends that everywhere you look, people are accepting a lower level of technology and quality in exchange for ease-of-use and lower cost. Mackey provides examples such as the growth of Flickr, which displays snapshots often taken with cell phones and cheap point and shoot cameras. Despite the easy availability of multi-megapixel cameras with zoom lenses and auto focus, iPhone images are “good enough.” Although high definition plasma TV’s are available, more and more people spend time watching blurry, low-res videos on their laptops or iPhones. Younger audiences he contends, actually prefer the lower-end sound of music on an iPod than then the crisper fidelity of a CD and so forth. In the field of graphic and web design, this has been true for some time, although 2009 put the ! on the concept. Read more
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