How are these three things related?
- great design
- audience engagement
- die-hard fans
Believe it or not, they’re all intertwined and each one directly influences the other. To be more specific, you need #1 to increase your chances of getting #2, and when you have #1 and #2, you will eventually find #3.
I’m here to tell you design matters, and it goes deeper than aesthetics. Below are five examples of why it matters, what benefit it will have for you, and what exactly you’ll get out of it.
First impressions
What are YOUR first impressions upon seeing this?
You know how when you visit a site like Fry’s Electronics you’re completely turned off and throw up a little bit in your mouth? One glance and you’re so overwhelmed by the clusterfuck of navigation options on all three sides of your screen that you forget what you’re looking for in the first place? That’s the last reaction you’d want from potential fans or clients, but that’s exactly what you’ll get with a terrible site design. With something mediocre, you might just make them wince, but you probably don’t want that either.
Good design draws people in. Really good design, however, tends to evoke emotions in people, and targets those who relate most… your potential readers, customers, and clients. Conversely, a terrible design can turn these potential visitors off, causing your bounce rate to soar and engagement to plummet, sadly.
People are attracted to beautiful, useful websites. But! They come to your site with an objective, and if you are unable to fulfill that objective as effectively and efficiently as possible, people will leave and see if your competitor can better fulfill their needs.
Ease of use
Remember how I mentioned design isn’t only about the shiny attractive buttons and web 2.0-esque graphics? Great design means an easy-to-use interface… easily navigable, easily searchable, easily understandable. The user knows where he is going next and exactly how to get there. He knows where to find what he is looking for, where to look when he needs to advance to the next page, or where to get more information about the product, the company, or customer service’s office hours.
How does a site achieve this?
By following the most common placements for these elements. Don’t let this limit your design, but keep in mind your customers are used to having certain elements in specific places (things such as a link to your contact info at the footer, main navigation somewhere near the top, logo in the top left corner, etc.) If you’re relocating these elements, you should have a damn good reason for doing so, and you better make sure your end user can still find them.
Creates value
People want to know theyre spending time on a well-thought-out site. If sites were purely about content, every site would look like Craigslist. Your audience wants and deserves the whole package, including a design that presents the important information in a way that’s easily digestible and accessible.
You know exactly why 37signals is here, and what they offer.
How can you create value for your audience?
The value comes from the information or products you offer, and the package you offer it in. Make your website a complete experience. Consider good visuals, but also announce why you’re here and what you’re about. Make that front and center, and your visitors will never be confused.
Stirs emotion
This point deserves to be stated twice in one article: Great design stirs emotion. How do you want your readers to feel when they visit your site? Should they be sympathetic? Hungry? Turned on? Wanting to help your cause? Design can alter moods if done effectively.
The mood of Caribou's site is fitting to its products
The above example is Caribou Coffee’s site. Don’t you just feel like you’re in a cozy place, ready to drink the most delicious cup of coffee ever?
Your site's theme should align with your whole image. Caribou does a good job.
If you visit a Caribou Coffee store, you’ll notice that warmth translate in their decor. You feel as if you’re sipping coffee in a cabin on a mountain somewhere. Always remember that every choice you make—texture, color palette, typeface—can effect the overall mood of your site, and in turn the emotions your reader experiences. Design accordingly.
Another way to stir emotion is to treat your readers as members of an exclusive club. For example, if you write for the company blog (or are an entrepreneur with a blog), you can use lingo that only your readers would understand (because they are regulars, and you use these phrases and words all the time as part of the blog lingo), or offer special members-only deals. This exclusivity is part of the whole experience that makes a reader feel like he or she belongs. That sense of belonging translates into loyalty, which eventually can transform into the makings of a die-hard fan.
Repeat visitors
Great design subconsciously fosters a connection between your site and your readers. Little things like a unique color palette, icon sets, and characters can remind readers where they are, and ultimately, will make them think of you when offline as well.
If you bolster this with compelling content, you become an unstoppable force. It’s important to remember great design with mediocre content is just as bad as sub-par design for super awesome content. The world needs balance, and the peeps that browse the interwebz are fickle, and not at all hesitant to click out of your website and on to the next one.
Assuming you have great content, evaluate your design and see if it fulfills the objectives I mentioned above. If not, slight adjustments could mean a large increase in page views, subscribers, or sales.
What else would you add to this list?
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