Planning to Redesign Your Site?

"We're thinking about redesigning our web site." We hear it frequently. So what does it mean, and is it a good idea?

First, 'design' means two distinct elements of a website. To many, 'design' means the graphic image of the site, the 'look and feel,' the colors, images, and typestyles used to present the content of the website. This is called 'graphic design' and it is quite different from the architecture of the website's data infrastructure, its navigation, and the organization of pages within the site. This is called 'structural design.' So, 'how it looks' is very different from 'how it works.'

Both graphic design and structural design are critical to a successful website, but they require vastly different planning and resources.

Here are several bad reasons for redesigning a web site:

• You and your colleagues are bored with the current design. With all due respect, no one cares if you're bored. Imagine how boring it must be for the poor people at McDonald's to see those golden arches every day.
  
• You have $10,000 left in the web budget for this fiscal year and think that's about right for a new 'look and feel.' If you sense that your website needs a facelift, use the money as a down payment on an internet marketing audit that will reveal the truth about your website and what it needs to do to serve your constituents.
  
• A competitive organization has just announced, with much fanfare, that they have just "re-launched" their website with an "all-new design." At best, your redesign would look like 'me-too-ism.' Instead, consider that maybe their changes will frustrate more users than their old look. Get ready for an influx of new users to your site, if yours is more easily usable.
  
• You have noticed that repeat visits to your site are trending lower, and you want to do 'something' to bring those users back. Users are probably bored with your content, not your design. Invest in some new, relevant, accurate, and timely content that will bring users back. Create some interactive devices like polls, surveys, advocacy and a searchable database. Redesign your e-mail newsletter and get it out to more people.

Here are a few good reasons to redo the graphic design of your site:

• It doesn't reflect your organization's brand identity. Too many organizations have designed their website in a branding vacuum. The website needs to reflect the same logo, colors, slogans, and typeface as your offline communications. I've never been to McDonald's website, but I'd be shocked if there weren't golden arches there! If your website doesn't look like the cover of your annual report, or your letterhead, then you need to change one or the other so you have a uniform appeal to your audience.
  
• Your current design is not 'user friendly.' If your site has type that's too small, or insufficient contrast between background and copy, then it's a good idea to upgrade your design. Are the colors 'web-safe?' Are your text links blue and underlined, and do they change to purple once they've been clicked, or are they some funky green and pink?

A good design may not 'jump off the page' at a returning web visitor, but it should reassure them they've come to the right place, and it should work well on all major browsers. Later, when you review the 'structural design' of your website, you may need to alter the way your new design fits on the page, but you should not have to make major changes to your 'look and feel.'

September 2003

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