How Important is Web Design?

Yet another way to ruin your productivity: Web Hot or Not - a place where you can judge the appearance of Web sites. If the concept sounds familiar, it’s similar to Hot or Not where you can vote on whether someone’s physical appearance appeals to your aesthetic criteria (or something like that).

WHON may be just for fun but an interesting aspect is how WHON will put the spotlight on Web design and what kind of feedback it will be able to offer.

Look at it this way: companies spend huge amounts of time and money working with designers to come up with a very subjective product – someone can love a design while others can hate it. If Web Hot or Not is more than just entertainment, it may be able to come up with rules on what the masses actually like when it comes to Web design. Maybe there’s an ancillary business here…or maybe not but it’s an interesting concept for a start-up that seems so simplistic.

The other question is whether Web design matters at all. At the end of the day, a Web site is going to be successful if it offers a product/service that people want. Aidan Henry had a good post recently looking at Craigslist, which features one of the worst designs in the world – yet people love the service. Even with a minor makeover – provided by a panel at SXSW 2006 – Craigslist would be a lot more user-friendly but would it really make a difference in its popularity?

Another example is Wikipedia, which has a sparse, no-frills design but has no lack of people who love it. What difference would it make it Wikipedia decided to embrace a new design? And why even do it given you don’t hear many people say “I love Wikipedia but the design sucks”. (Then again, there are rumors of a Wikipedia redesign based on what Allen Stern (aka CenterNetworks) saw last week.)

I’m clearly not a Web design expert but I do know that compelling looking Web sites are difficult to create….but not nearly as much of a challenge to build as compelling online services.

(Note: I would add that Web design is becoming increasingly irrelevant to many bloggers given the popularity of RSS means more people never visit a blog)

For more on Web Hot or Not, check out ParisLemon, who’s excited about the comment feature, and Mashable, which asks if Web Hot or Not’s ratings could someone be incorporated into Technorati. TechCrunch points out there are similar sites to Web Hot or Not already in existence, including CommandShift3.

Note: This post was updated after Martin Varsavsky made it clear that Web Hot or Not is a spoof site created by FON Labs following a conversation he and Sifry had.

Technorati Tags: David Sifry, Technorati