Do surfers reallt care of how does your fucking site looks like?
 

Do they care if your design is unqiue or not? if it's a shit of piece or not?

Or all they care about is some good porn?

Its important.

Navigation is important now although content is obviously more important. I dont think you need a fancy design but you should make sure its easy to navigate.

so it's all about navigation and not the design "WOWness" ? :D

i asked a few of my brothers friends which sites they liked better out of a list of 5. they were to choose which one they would most likely come back to everyday for porn and which one they would close the browser down right away.

one of them actually said he didnt like two of the sites because they "look like one of those sites that just keeps redirecting you to other sites and you never see the pictures or movies." INTERESTING... and im sure there are others that feel the same way. ironically enough, the least liked one was a well designed TGP layout which i thought would be the best.

im looking to do a test on this agian, but have more than a small handful of people.

Of course it is important, as with anything in life, quality does make a diference:2 cents::2 cents:

Well first off, as it's been said before, navigation being laid out well is super important, both logically and aesthetically. What a lot of people don't realize is that psychologically, people will like content better if they like the package it's wrapped in. Retailers have known this well...forever, hence the reason for pretty frilly packaging on crap items. And the worst part is, it WORKS, the "packaging" can have a sub-conscious effect on how a consumer perceives the product. Having a nice, clean, SIMPLE design is best.... then it works to accent and highlight the content without taking focus away from it and eliciting emotional response in a negative way to it.

Yes, they do!

My tests show that design greatly affects the bounce rate.

Ya it matters...plus a good designer can easily make a site look good in a short space time.
If you design quality stuff all the time it becomes second nature, but initially is a pain in the arse and believe I've asked myself what you're asking lots of times.
My last employer wanted my designs to improve every time I did a new one. Bastard was never happy but looking back at my portfolio I could see an clear improvement over the space of a year.
Start as you mean to go on is what I say :pimp

content>navigation>aesthetic appeal

exactly. look at the top sites and u wll see aesthetics are of little importance unless navigation is fucked.

Look at the top porn sites and you will have your answer.

I'd say a good design does matter, but content is more important. I have turned away from some sites that just looked too amateur to be legit. The design doesn't need to be too fancy but it should be easy to navigate.

user friendly is the most vital part of any website then content and then looks :2 cents:

I'm sure I've made twice as much money or more because of the way my sites look and function.

No not really

It also depends on what kind of site. I think amateur sites can do well or even better when they look like shit. I've seen some horribly designed sites that convert like hot cakes.

I've never liked the skim crap either. Why treat your surfers like dumbasses?

google = logo + text box + button
craigslist = links
I've always been a fan of KISS.

Bingo. Crappy site designs actually seem to do wonders for some amateur sites. Most people probably don't remember Pepper, who was one of the first non-nude models back in the day. Her site design sucked balls yet it made great money because it gave surfers the impression she made the entire thing herself... which she did.

So true. I've been doing 3d graphics for years. Usually at the initial stage, there are some 3d models that will appearing in the show that must be approved by the client.

If I did a quick, not so good job, I could always get client sign-off as long as the 3d render was presented with nice surrounding graphics. If it was just on black, they would pick the work apart and it would take forever. Sometimes, there are clients who can see past my smoke an mirrors, but most are dumb as shit and like things that are shiny and pretty, even if its shiny and pretty crap.

speed of loading and no jerking around matters more

How can design don't be important?
 

Why apple products turned the most desired gadgets at all? it have something to do with the design you can be sure. And it's not just the product elegance itself, but the interface design, that in much have to do with the websites people buy.
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It's very important to remember that design have to do, inside the web, much to do with many things, as navigation, sinaletics, interface use, information display, and off course, Joy.
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Who don't want to have a cool interface for his product? Who don't prefer to navigate in a environment that is more clever, more quick, more interesting? If you think that just the inovative "content" that apple deliver, or just the product promise do everything, than sounds like " just the content is important". But for me, the design make part of the whole thing itself, and many people will buy something because of how it looks like (between other benefits) for sure. ;)
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Good question man! :thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup

This says it all:

http://www.alsscan.com/main.html

Exactly.

Amen brother.

Correct. Only WEBMASTERS care about pretty sites. Surfers want...

1. Content.
2. Navigation.
3. Speed.
4. Updates.

Look at the top porn sites, and mainstream sites and portals.

Case closed.

Never use a graphic if it doesn't have a clear... defined purpose.
Design should enhance content.