Lightburn

Design is directed toward human beings. To design is to solve human problems by identifying them and executing the best solution.

-Ivan Chermayeff, Chermayeff & Geismar

Graphic design at its heart is all about problem solving. Designers are given problems such as: “What’s the best way to advertise our show?” Or “How do we communicate to our customers that our product has been improved?” From these problems, it’s the designers job come up with the best solution to meet the customer’s needs.

At best, these solutions are obtained by collection and analysis of data, understanding your target demographic and meeting with marketing co-workers. Most of the time however, deadlines and budgets are tight, corners are cut, and the process is truncated. The final product is an educated guess made with knowledge from previous experience, and the data provided upfront.

With a more traditional medium, missteps caused by this truncation can prove to be both time consuming and expensive. However, on the web we have the ability to continually monitor and improve the user experience, even after the site has launched. No longer is a question as critical as “is this getting through to our  audience?” a difficult one to answer – and fix, should there be an issue.

Ok, so what?

With the ability to continually monitor and pinpoint issues, we don’t have to completely redesign a site if there is a problem. Instead, we can take a virtual scalpel to the problem area, and re-work it. Not only does this save time and money, it also slowly eases your users into a better experience.

Many company brand identities are largely based on their website, and a large redesign can not only hurt their brand, but be jarring to their customers. In 2001, usability engineers at eBay identified a few ways to improve the basic search and bid process. When they implemented the fixes, they did so through slow, incremental updates¹. Opting to do this eased their customers into a better user experience, whereas if they had chosen to simply flip the switch on the new design, their users would have cried foul.

On the other hand, when Facebook redesigns their site, they roll out large updates with multiple feature changes all at once. This forces users to re-learn what they have been doing for months, and there is always an outcry. If instead, they chose to roll out features one at a time over the course of a few months, users could adjust over time.

Put your money where your mouth is!

When we redesigned our site, we decided very early on that we would focus on continually improving the site. This way it stays fresh both to us, and to you. We plan to continually update our site every few months. Already you may notice that we have added a new, richer footer, and new homepage slides. Also, through the analytics data we’ve collected, we’ve found a few areas that could use improving, and have solutions in the works.

I skipped to the end. What is your point?

Through the collection and analysis of how your customers are using your site, we can easily pinpoint problem areas, and continually improve the user experience. It’s a simple, cost effective way to keep your site fresh, and make sure you keep your customers coming back.

References

1. Schwartz, Mathew. “eBay shares lessons learned from designing site” CNN.com, 7 June 2001.