Design vs Art

Most business people understand that today your website is your new lobby.  It’s design gives people an impression of your organization; often a first impression.   Surveys shows that more than 80% of people do research on line before making any purchase of a product or service.  Potential members, customers, patients, clients, or donors, make that initial judgement about your organizations within about 30 seconds of landing on your site.  If it appears inviting, easy to understand, and simple, they’ll stay and give you a chance to tell your story.  If you fail, they are gone in a mouse click.

Someone said great art speaks to each person differently, while great design speaks to each person the same.  Design makes the world easy to use, while art is a personal taste and changes from person to person.  There has long been a debate between art and design:  Which is more important, effectual, and desirable?

Andy Warhol’s painting of a soup can sold for $11 million at auction in 2006.  However, in 2011 Campbell’s Soup Co. sold $778 million worth of soup.  So, does good design sell more than good art?

Good and bad design is all around us.  It makes everyday things easy, or hard, to use.  Consider the car.  All cars have a steering wheel, not a choice of steering wheel, joystick or navigational stalk.  When you jump into the drivers seat of the latest model or a vintage car from ‘40s, an experienced driver can figure it out pretty quickly.

The design aspect of your website is critically important.  Good sites have clean navigation, and a well thought out menu of choices on the top or side, but not all over the place.  The titles are clear, concise and accurately describe their content to easily guide visitors along.  Bad web design can be frustrating for the visitor and drive away business, wasting the time and money you spent on getting traffic.

Most designers agree that Amazon is one of the best sites on the web.  It’s design is clear and simple to use, it’s easy to find what you want, and above all, easy to shop.  It looks nice, but its not a work of art.

WebsitesThatSuck.com highlights what you shouldn’t do, and demonstrates that organization size doesn’t inoculate anyone against stupidity.  Using a common sense driven check list, each year they select the worst sites on the web.  2011’s list includes big names like Xerox, Sony and Symantec, along with some not so famous companies and people. Check out the list to see the worst of the worst.   If your site looks at all like any of these, get some new web people.

John D Barry wrote “Only when the design fails does it draw attention to itself; when it succeeds, it’s invisible.”  Design well and prosper.