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Website Analysis Blog |
Updated: Oct 10, 2022
Characteristics that define good and bad website design.
“If you think math is hard, try web design”
Bad Website Design
Visitors to your website may be there for a variety of reasons, including applying for work, learning more about your products and offerings, or to make a purchase. If they find it troubling to carry out any or all of these activities, poor website design is likely the cause. Websites like Goodreads, Shein and The Iconic exhibit poor usability and tend to aggravate users to the point where they opt to leave.
Each of the above websites are illustrations of ‘poor’ website design since they fall short in some or many aspects of being user centric. Customers often note that they experience accessibility problems due to poor colour contrast on sites like Goodreads. Websites such as Shein have a chaotic layout and lack visual structure. The inadvertent use of colours, whitespace and imagery add to this cluttered aesthetic. The Iconic is notorious for having a poor back-end set-up. Like the attached screengrab, due to the oversaturation of products, narrowing your search feels near impossible. When a customer struggles to locate what they are shopping for, they will turn elsewhere.
Everywhere you look, you can find bad websites that make it difficult to navigate or obtain the information you need. A website should entice you to stay and explore. The items you are selling should be front and centre, prominently displayed. By simply upgrading your landing page, switching from old gradients to solid colours, not oversaturating your website with excess items and having a simple navigation menu, you can attract new, and more customers to your site.
Good Website Design
The usefulness and usability of a website defines its success or failure. User centric design has become the standard for effective and financially motivated web design, coupled with its aesthetic appetite.
At essence, digital user habits and those of customers in-store are quite similar. The majority of a business’s client base search for clickable content that is both visually engaging and easy. It is as equally as important that a website provides high-quality content as it provides functionality.
Worn For Good is a website that provides high-quality content coupled with readable links to help users navigate the website with ease. Its imagery is relevant, authentic, and unique with high-resolution that helps for its customers to trust in the quality of its products. At the forefront of their company values, Worn for Goods homepage provides customers with a brief oversight of their purpose and goals. This again, build their trusting relationship with their loyal audience base.
Country Road are known for their minimalist aesthetic. Their website follows this notion while also providing customers with a noticeable call to action, whether it be New Season stock or 30% off sales. By saying what it is, saying what you get and what you can do, Country Road’s online stores create a unique value proposition by employing the trust of their audience. The name itself was chosen to reflect the brands ethos; Country was chosen to signify a strong desire to create product with authenticity, while Road acknowledged the way forward.[1] By being forward and clear with their offerings, Country Road eliminate decision fatigue, give meaning to your content, and assist with guiding customers through the buying journey.
[1] Country Road (n.d.), About Us, [no publisher], [no place], viewed 9 October 2022, < https://www.countryroad.com.au/about-us/>
What makes an audience stop and look at your design? Loeffler Randall are the epitome of visually pleasing design. Their use of contrast, balance, negative space, and storytelling make their website enticing. First impressions mean everything. By differentiating their design strategy, Loeffler Randall have built strong customer loyalty. Consumers associate familiarity with trust. A brand’s main goal is to foster this trust. Visual cues evoke emotion; font, colour, iconography strongly influence buyer decisions and by consistently adopting recognisable cues, brands increase reliability and recognition by providing customers with an instantly identifiable object. Loeffler Randall nail this by using brown and earthy tones that are associated with dependability, reliability, and quality, coupled with content blocking and soft rounded fonts that symbolise approachability.
Design trends are everchanging. This can make it difficult to identify design principles however, there are still a multitude of timeless guidelines that you can apply. It is important to consider implementing user testing if you want a more in-depth site design analysis. By evaluating your website based on mobile-friendly design, performance, SEO, and security. Completing this will help you gather actionable insights into obstacles visitors face on your site. This will make it easier to implement changes based on what your testing affirms. The majority of customers are in search for clickable content that is both engaging and mutually beneficial. Above all, users value credibility and quality. Make sure you implement this is your website design above content, adverts, and style.
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