Respect me

Posted by Peter F on March 6 2006 in Blog Design. There are no comments yet. Add yours!

It’s time for a good rant. I’m long overdue. Today’s subject is respect.

Design – good design – shows respect for your readers. Bad design shows your contempt for them.

People are smart. We like to be wooed and wowed. We don’t like lowest common denominator work. If your site looks like a dog’s breakfast, I’m going to assume you just don’t care about me enough to engage me mentally and emotionally.

That assumption is a built-in response – it’s automatic. It’s why we’re drawn to the pretty and avoid the hideous

Think of it this way: you go to the bank to get some advice. You have a choice of three managers to speak with: one is dressed in a stately blue suit, one in stylish slacks and shirt, and the last in muddy boots and torn jeans. Which of the three immediately commands the least respect? Sure, the slobby guy may be the most knowledgable of the three, but his contempt for his station and for my expectations of professionalism makes me nervous. Besides, am I willing to take the risk with my money? Get where I’m going here?

I’m not saying that every site on the internet has to be pretty. But it should be appropriate to its purpose. That blue suited banker would be totally out of place on a muddy construction site.

So how does this come back to respect? Simple really. A badly designed site is just sloppy. And Sloppiness shows you just don’t care all that much. Doesn’t it?
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