4 ms·

Ask HN: How much stock do you place in the Design of a site?

4 points by jeggers5 15y ago

brk 15y ago
On average quite a bit, but it depends on the rest of the context I know about the site. Examples: 1) Totally random site. Something I discover in a search or from a twitter link. Good design = engagement. Bad design = lack of trust and general skepticism 2) Less random site. Many people I "know" are using it. Something like gplus.to (or whatever that Google+ vanity URL site is). Good design = these guys must really know what they are doing. Bad design = this is probably one guys personal project blown up. It might implode so don't get addicted to it, but can reduce level of skepticism overall. 3) Well-known HN nick posts "this is my weekend project. I suck at design, but I've written 4 lines of Ruby that can mine bitcoins for you and then mail you an Amazon gift card AND remember to buy you mom/wife/girlfriend a present on their birthday". Good design = These sites never have good design ;) Bad design = This is hard-core real stuff. Just the facts, lightweight simple interface rocks. Or something like that.
- jeggers5 15y ago
  +1, Interesting, thanks.
bluesix 15y ago
An article was published today on this very topic: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/to-catch-a-roving-surfer-the-prettiest-always-win-20110712-1hc7v.html http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/to-catch... which refers to a report done by Melb Uni. Not sure how they came up with the data though. Personally however, I put a huge amount of stock in a site's design (Reddit excluded).
damoncali 15y ago
In my experience, good design is critical in getting people's attention. When I redesigned http://trackjumper.com http://trackjumper.com, the bounce rate went from 60%+ to 40%. And it's not even what I would call "good" yet. Just a lot better than it was. That's 50% more people sticking around to find out if they like the product.
garethsprice 15y ago
Give or take, about 59.2% more trust making me about 27% more likely to buy from a site designed to a level 3 standard over a level 1 standard. Seriously though, response to design is like response to advertising - subconscious and subtle, something that the user may not understand themselves. http://tbbuck.com/building-a-web-application-that-makes-500-a-month-%E2%80%93-part-ii/ http://tbbuck.com/building-a-web-application-that-makes-500-... was an interesting find, showing a conversion rate jump for a small web app based on positive design. I think it would be more accurate to measure this in terms of conversion rate or other results-driven measurements.

4 points by jeggers5 15y ago

brk 15y ago

On average quite a bit, but it depends on the rest of the context I know about the site. Examples: 1) Totally random site. Something I discover in a search or from a twitter link. Good design = engagement. Bad design = lack of trust and general skepticism 2) Less random site. Many people I "know" are using it. Something like gplus.to (or whatever that Google+ vanity URL site is). Good design = these guys must really know what they are doing. Bad design = this is probably one guys personal project blown up. It might implode so don't get addicted to it, but can reduce level of skepticism overall. 3) Well-known HN nick posts "this is my weekend project. I suck at design, but I've written 4 lines of Ruby that can mine bitcoins for you and then mail you an Amazon gift card AND remember to buy you mom/wife/girlfriend a present on their birthday". Good design = These sites never have good design ;) Bad design = This is hard-core real stuff. Just the facts, lightweight simple interface rocks. Or something like that.

jeggers5 15y ago
+1, Interesting, thanks.

bluesix 15y ago

An article was published today on this very topic: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/to-catch-a-roving-surfer-the-prettiest-always-win-20110712-1hc7v.html http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/to-catch... which refers to a report done by Melb Uni. Not sure how they came up with the data though. Personally however, I put a huge amount of stock in a site's design (Reddit excluded).

damoncali 15y ago

In my experience, good design is critical in getting people's attention. When I redesigned http://trackjumper.com http://trackjumper.com, the bounce rate went from 60%+ to 40%. And it's not even what I would call "good" yet. Just a lot better than it was. That's 50% more people sticking around to find out if they like the product.

garethsprice 15y ago

Give or take, about 59.2% more trust making me about 27% more likely to buy from a site designed to a level 3 standard over a level 1 standard. Seriously though, response to design is like response to advertising - subconscious and subtle, something that the user may not understand themselves. http://tbbuck.com/building-a-web-application-that-makes-500-a-month-%E2%80%93-part-ii/ http://tbbuck.com/building-a-web-application-that-makes-500-... was an interesting find, showing a conversion rate jump for a small web app based on positive design. I think it would be more accurate to measure this in terms of conversion rate or other results-driven measurements.