(Website) Design over content trap
In the last couple of years I came across visually stunning designs over and over again that failed miserably when implemented as websites.
Here I want to talk a bit on creating better pages for users. People optimized pages that should bring their message in a beautiful way and to reach their audience. Not excessive talk on a SEO or other specific topic, but the balance between web page presentation and the search engine optimisation.
The trap
In short: For various reasons the link between visual and meaning has slipped away.
Common reasons for getting into this discrepancy can be:
- time pressure — the timeline is short and the design should be ready in no time and moved to development
- external influence — looking at some popular website or competitor designs, trying to create design different from the competition, creating something modern (recently minimalistic designs), or just something out of the box.
It is better if you have wireframes prepared, that cover the main needs of the content presentation, and need the visual concept and polishing. If you have properly created wireframes, they will be extremely helpful as a solid foundation for the designs (and all sub-pages you need to create).
Still, even with proper wireframes in place there may be something missed or misunderstood and not included in the designs.
Whatever the reason is, we can end up with a design that doesn’t cover some basics for the web. Usually someones’ own perspective and human cognitive ability can impact the website structure and explicit wording. As far as a human will understand the message in this design when it is partially delivered with the visual concept and content, this will be hard or impossible for computer programs (at least for now) like Search engines.
The computer understands what you are telling it, not what you were thinking to tell.
It is tempting to use such a technique in the design and leave a piece of mystery for people to solve, but don’t do it (or do it with extra caution and for particular pages only). After all our goal is to build a good website, and a good website should perform its purpose and should reach its audience.
Is this relevant to designing any page?
Not necessarily. There are cases like some short living promotional pages, that have planned traffic like already existing audiences or some social media campaign, and in these situations we do not need to bother with the search-ability of the designed page.
Preventing this design over meaning pitfall
It should not be hard to escape from this trap. While designing the pages, keep in mind (or on a sticky note) their purpose and maybe few rules:
- keep a proper page structure — allow main title tag (h1), and following content with subtitles (h2,h3) etc.
- think about how the design should look on different screen sizes — it is better to have an easy way to transform between screens without losing any information
- do not count characters — you should be able to change a sentence or translate it in other language without breaking the design
Better yet if you can collaborate with a Content marketing or SEO expert — just have in mind, they can fall in their own trap and ask to rip off all these visuals and keep the story clean. The most wanted result will be somewhere in between.
Check if you have created a proper presentation
Get someone in your organisation or even just a friend — a person that is not involved in the same project. Show them the concept you create and ask them to explain to you what it is telling them. If they have understood it properly, they should easily describe what this page is about.
In conclusion I will share a phrase I use to communicate this topic with some designers I’ve worked with:
“Every website is a universe and every web page is a story. You should be able to tell the story without any visuals, but a beautifully presented story is the best story to tell.”