does website design really matter these days?
 

look at all the tube sites they all have such a basic design and logo, they still get smashed with traffic

Of course design matters.

Design is not just graphics it is also layout and navigation.

Look at some of the heavier designed tubes.. The extra design makes them harder and slower to navigate..

The logo/design is just a part of branding, it's not as important as the usability and functionality of the site. With tube sites it's all perfect and exactly what the user wants. You get big thumbnails leading directly to the video, doesn't get any easier than that. They don't get famous for their good looking logo's lol :winkwink:

flashy graphics are out

a good design can still make the difference between someone just hitting the back button when your site opens for the first time or whether they stick around a bit to click around (and hopefully click on an ad or two)

:2 cents: I think surfers are getting more concerned with ease of use and what's being offered vs. pretty colors and graphics anymore. As long as it doesn't look like barf, who's going to beat a shitload of free full scenes?

very silly question

Don't worry ... demand for designers is always good.

I think it depends on what you mean. The way you code HTML can affect your ranking in SERPS, and on the other hand, if no one links to your site because the content sucks or the navigation doesn't work.

There is a new breed of HTML coders out there that follow standards and are trying to clean up HTML code (Such as myself) that have a minimalist way of thinking. Start with solid valid HTML and use CSS to style the page.

This results in a cleaner, faster, easier to edit, better for search engines, cell phones, handhelds, HTML code.

A really well designed website should:

A properly coded HTML page that validates and is semantic.
Usage of CSS only to style the look of the page.
Easy to use/understand navigation, multiple ways to visit the same content

You can get further into usability such as font contras and whatnot, but I think you get the idea.

design is everything - architecture, structure, presentation, usability, creativity, detailed precision, not just flashy graphics (which is a misconception)

for example: some things can be designed elegantly and others could look just horrible in either simple and complex forms.

when you see a good design - you can sense a thoughtful and creative mind is behind or at least logical to point.

I think pretty doesnt mean sales. Look at craigslist.

i love the word "basic" when hours go into content placement and planning. it is harder to make a simpler design and still have it look professional. if you dont get that then their is no hope for you.

Web site design can't matter that much, people still buy hosting from us and ours is 5 years old and quite ugly. It's the content that matters, I guess.. LOL

Cheers,

Brad

think of design like you think of a store in the mall, it is about display of your product. most designs that appear simple arent that at all.

like a site like this:
http://www.getrichinporn.com/

is way overdone.

i like your site. it does the job. no need to overdue it.

but im also sure you rely more on return customers and word of mouth rather then your site being used as an advertisement.

Very true.

metaman owns this thread...


.02

You are in the hosting business. You give them good price, they buy. :)
You can have a simple page with nothing but prices on it and it sill will sell....

content is what really matters.

only designers are jerking on design

Matters as in how?

I know for a fact that a changing an outdated design on a paysite made it convert 35%-45% better.

:2 cents:

Design shouldn't be a synonym with the word "flashy"

- the initial feel
- the intuitive navigation
- a clear focus on selling what you want to sell
- a real to the point text work
- easy way to guide them to pay

Those are a couple things that matter much more than if it was Bruno Dickmans desiging your site, you know why?

Because Bruno didn't design my site.

P.S. I respect Bruno greatly, I'm just busting his balls

All good comments. I agree that elegance and simplicity are not to be underestimated with regard to level of difficulty.

Brad

it does if you know how to KISS and focus on the content. :)

A lot of good comments.

Speed matters.

A good design can make a huge difference, an example of a good designed tube site is www.tube8.com

Pretty simply but nice and fast and of course excellent content

(I hate that site though because of all the illegal stuff given away)

But see even a basic logo and clean layout is considered design. It's just a really clean and appropriate design. It wouldn't work out for say a solo girl with alot of personality. but then again a tube site shouldn't be super colorful and full of personality. Design comes to doing what right for the content and audience and not just using the latest fonts and a zillion photoshop filters...

Design is also key in building brand recognition. If you pay attention to every logo, link, button on a site you can really drive across your brand and get the return customer and not just the one time sign up.

I suck at designing, but focus at the content. And it works :)

Thanks perfect. Carlos.

not silly at all

I think that all is a conjunction. Great design (simple or complex - depends of the objetive), not for that reason a simple design should be a poor design. Another important point is the qualification criterion too.