In this post I try to keep true to my promise to add some spice to the world of web design and usability: I will try to investigate the cons of designing “sexy” versus “conservative”.

So far clients still owe me a consistent definition of what they mean by asking for a “sexy” or “conservative” user interface. I guess I have a hunch and we all probably feel the difference but eventually it boils down to subjective interpretations.

Photo credits: AlphaX/X17, Adrian Varnedoe, A. Than/Pacific Coast News

Motivation

Just for a moment think of who you would rather want to have a long-lasting relationship with? The Paris Hilton on the left of the photo (sexy) or the Paris Hilton to the right (conservative)? Ok, probably neither, but for the sake of the argument?

In the words of one of our consultants: make the design ’sexy’ for our marketing department and ‘conservative’ for our users. What now? Really?

Let’s try to look at the cons of either side in an unbiased way by using a funny dating analogy:

The Bad of too Sexy

Designing too sexy gives everything away for free and leaves you with nothing to hold in reserve

Users know within seconds whether a site is right for them or not, they smell the scent of usefulness and determine that what is offered is worth further time investment. One might call initial attraction a success but it is human nature to want something more if we cannot have it.

So keep certain things a mystery. Don’t give everything away upfront or for free. It’s OK to tease though.

A ’slutty’ design may lower your general value

Your users may feel that they have a higher intrinsic value than you do. Therefore you are not really worth further attention or a long-term relationship.

Design for emotions but keep in mind that trust is only built when your users can take you serious.

Sexy design may show your less than desirable aspects

Surely skillful designers know that it is important to emphasize the attractive aspects of your business and hide the less attractive characteristics. But, trying to pretend being somebody or something that you are not will come across as fake and unreal.

Stay true to your values and represent who you are. Don’t pretend to be young or sexy if you aren’t.

The Bad of too Conservative

Designing conservatively may indicate a low self-esteem

‘Playing it safe’ can be caused by many things: traditions, missing innovation, dusty policies, organizational structures, stubborn managers. Whatever it is, it will be felt by the users and could be interpreted as old-fashioned, slow (to deliver), outdated or simply lame.

Being bold is important (having a skilled designer helps too). Engage modern technology and trends like the social web.

Designing conservatively may indicate discomfort with your own business

You might have a hard time defining your business or telling an attractive story of who you are or what you do. This means you are not wholly comfortable or happy with what you represent and therefore choose to show as little of yourself as possible. Holding back is very risky because users (clients) might not understand who you are and don’t know why they should get engaged or continue spending their time on your site.

Work hard to make your content/service attractive rather than the appearance. Don’t hold back with something that helps engaging users.

Designing conservatively may not catch your users

Design must stand out because it will make YOU stand out. In times where everybody and everything is available on the web it’s more important than ever to be unique in your offering, precise in how your business is different (or better) to others and clear in your message. Your front-end should clearly communicate all that! Designing too conservative may ultimately result in fewer visits and engagements.

Be unique and clear about your offerings and communicate it through your user interface.

Conclusion

The purpose of (most) web designs is to engage people and build relationships. That’s why appearance is so important and that’s why you should not design in stereotypes (aka ’sexy’ or ‘conservative’).

Try to be clear about what you offer and honest in how you present it.

Like with anything in life, make sure to do your homework, learn about your target audience (think google). This will tell you how to dress appropriately and make the date between you and your users a pleasurable experience and hopefully a long-lasting one as well.

What’s your opinion? How do you design? Why?

Another week of fantastic articles! A little digging (or reading my blog ) will save you time and buying books hehe.

• 15 Desktop & Online Wireframing Tools (by Tom Walker) – I use Balsamiq Mockups, what about you?
• User Experience Books Free to Read Online (by Simon Whatley) – yes, free
• The Future of Wireframes (by Nishant Kothary) – in Nishant’s words: holy guacamole!
• Do’s and Don’ts of Usability Testing (by Demetrius Madrigal and Bryan McClain) – my take-away: don’t jump to conclusions, that truly is a beginner mistake.
• How to Increase Conversions on any Website in 45 Minutes (by Andrew Follett) – improvement can happen in less than an hour, keep it down to the top 3 items!
• 43 Essential Controls for Web Applications (by Theresa Neil) – just being able to name them properly (not to mention program them) is a huge communication plus.
• How to Choose Right CSS Frameworks (by Joel Reyes) – a must read for any web programmer. Know at least one css framework really well.
• Why you only need to test with five users (explained) (by Jeff Sauro) – I mean, really well explained.
• Email verification – is your call-to-action strong enough? (by Harry Brignull) – it’s tough to lose customers that WANT to be customers. Consider lazy registration as well!
• “Call to Action” Buttons: Guidelines, Best Practices and Examples (by hongkiat) – Another really important article. Talks about size, color, labels etc.

• 10 unexpected online user behaviours to look out for (by webcredible team) – the really interesting thing is that they talk about “People” and not “Users”
• A Review of Consistent Designs on the Web (by Noam Almosnino) – a check list (like it) and visual examples (love it).
• Design Multilingual Website: A Beginner’s Guide (by Christian Arno) – often only a back-thought, but it shouldn’t. I18N and all the good stuff.
• uxurls.com: a user experience aggregator (by Harry Brignull) – Harry is collecting and presenting blogs about UX, 130 sites and counting…
• How to Build a Footer That Doesn’t Stink (by Ben Gremillion) – yes, this kind of footer
• 34 Outstanding Admin Panels for Your Web Applications (by Madalin Tudose) – more inspiration.
• My biggest mistakes (by Scott Berkun) – call it life lessons, call it learning from other people’s mistakes, call it a must-read…
• Web designers announce IE6’s ‘death,’ slate party (by Gregg Keizer) – Thank God, finally?
• So You Call Yourself A Designer? (by Niki Brown) – Niki illustrates which qualities/skills are needed to be a good Designer

Wow, what a week with truly amazing content which once more shows me how many talented and dedicated people are on the web. Thanks all for sharing your knowledge!!

• Vancouver Olympics Web sites are inaccessible to disabled people (by Joe Clark) – hope at least the website of the Special Olympics will be… Joe, wanna check?
• The Comprehensive Guide to Saving Images for the Web (by Joshua Johnson) – now this I call an essential read!
• E-Commerce Design Resources: The Ultimate Round-Up (by Cameron Chapman) – now this I call ultimate read!
• Life, Below 600px (by Paddy Donnelly) – or, “giving the fold the finger”.
• Information Gathering: a Roundup of UX Applications (by James Costa) – James reviews 4 really useful UX applications. Great overview!
• 14 Questions To Ask Your Clients Before and After a Project (by Joel Reyes) – always good to be reminded of the basics.
• Design considerations for article lists (by Anders Toxboe) – Do’s and don’ts of article lists are essential knowledge for every designer. Get a hang of it.
• 10 Essential Chrome Extensions for Web Developers (by Samuel Axon) – Firebug Lite, IE Tab, Resolution test and others, a must-see.
• Best Practices for Hints and Validation in Web Forms (by Kean Richmond) – Users hate forms but they are the only way to interact with an application so you better invest some more thought as did Kean.
• The Anatomy of Web Design (by Nishant Kothary) – “Smarter hires, more resources, more time, fewer managers, rational stakeholders, less overhead, stronger leadership, and sensible project management are intrinsic to creating great designs—but they cannot take the place of a strong mission and sense of purpose.”

I’m amazed, though not surprised, how revealing and informative field trips can be. Three episodes into Undercover Boss, a reality TV series by CBS, it becomes obvious how easy it is for upper management to get disconnected from the base, for a CEO to know little to nothing about its employees and their work conditions, for a corporate policy being counterproductive. High-level assumptions don’t live up to their expectations, prove to be ineffective, are misinterpreted or simply not useful at all.

For all that haven’t seen the show yet, each episode of the show features a senior executive at a major corporation working incognito as a new entry-level hire in his or her company for one week, to find out how the company really works and identify some of the unsung heroes among the employees.

Setting the stage

The show usually starts with the CEO of the corporation entering a board meeting revealing his plan to go undercover. I enjoy seeing the directors’ mouths dropping with shear fear in their faces of the possible outcome and its consequences. Could it be that they know something might be wrong? Or not perfect?

Learning the hard way

The undercover boss assumes a new identity and with the excuse of being filmed for a documentary on a person working entry-level jobs in several different industries (or similar) starts digging dirt for Waste Mangement, cleaning dishes at Hooters or serving coffee at 7-Eleven.

We see a woman that has to pee in a can for lack of time to make a toilet stop en route, store lights that cannot be replaced within a 30-day window, a restaurant manager having his employees competing in degrading games so the winner can leave early. All examples of failed management and policies with huge potential for change!

We also live with some incredible and heartbreaking stories of inspiring people that are on dialysis or waiting for a kidney transplant but still work hard and motivated. A guy that works long nights to finance his studies but without perspective within the company, something is not going right here.
All these people are invaluable to any company but unfortunately mostly overlooked, another missed chance of finding hidden potential. Some of them with incredible skills that are simply not needed at their current job position but might be essential in another. Where to go?

Overall, the experience is eye-opening and a dedication to humanity, the revelation that every “position” is held by a person, that every “customer relation” is an interaction between people, that every “policy” directly or indirectly affects the life of an employee.

Catharsis

Finally the CEO, overwhelmed by his experiences, seems cleansed by his experiences and vows to correct the disgrace before it becomes outrage. In the show the boss reveals his true identity to the employees and like a big family they watch clips from the show, laugh, cheer and live happily ever after.

Effect on UX

Field studies, a widely accepted and practiced method of user-centered design, seems to find its way into the conscience of the American (and British – the show is based on the 2009 British Channel 4 series of the same name) viewers. It appears as the obvious thing to do.

My very positive take-away from the show is that without knowing, managers, directors and CEO’s will ask for more involvement of the base (real people), will involve field studies or user testing in their methodology which surely won’t disappointed them. Their insights will improve the live of their employees (the society) and gain considerable business advantages over their competition in the long run.

Am I dreaming or reaching for the stars? Let me know what you think?

• The Skinny on CSS Attribute Selectors (by Chris Coyier) – CSS attribute selectors are really useful and I’ve been using them for ages; here a nice summary by Chris.
• Common Misconceptions about Web Designers (by Shannon Noack) – working odd hours? When was the last time I’ve seen day-light?
• CSS files downloaded twice in Internet Explorer with protocol relative URLs (by Robert Nyman) – and Robert gives three nice (and trivial) examples on how to avoid it.
• Create a Clean and Professional Web Design in Photoshop (by Waheed Akhtar) – Step-by-step guide for Photoshop geeks. Really basic but a nice start.
• Is Web accessibility a human right? (by Vlad Alexander) – excellent article; and Ian Pouncey’s response: Accessibility is a human right.
• How to Make Your Small Business Geolocation-Ready (by Leah Betancourt) – jump on the train of geographically optimized interaction!
• The Browser Choice Screen for Europe: What to Expect, When to Expect It (by Dave Heiner) – Microsoft finally bowed to pressure by the EU (better late than never).
• 25 Beautiful Examples of “Coming Soon” Pages (by Tyler Denis) – get inspired; and Walter offers similar A Collection of “Coming Soon” Web Pages

Christina Warren wrote a really nice blog entry on HOW TO: Integrate Google Buzz Into Your WordPress Blog, this will certainly get you started with your own buzz this icon/button.

I installed Google Buzz Button plugin (by Internet Techies) that allows you to add a “Buzz This” button to each of your WordPress posts (download google buzz plugin).
Yes, that’s the nicely colored button right below these words – try it out, right here, right now

Scenario

The application sends out automated emails with links to a report that was requested by the user and created by the application. The sender address is ‘no-reply@company.com’ and obviously not meant to receive any further correspondence.

As it turns out, this exact no-reply email alias receives ‘feedback’ almost on a daily basis, some valuable and constructive, others from painfully true to filled with hatred, meaningless and doubtful.

Here an example:

Thx….this rocks……I am soooo gonna use u for this shit

What should we do with this answer?

Learn!

It is important that you hear something… anything… that you give your users a channel to voice their experience from which you can/should learn and grow. Don’t label them ’stupid’ just because they “didn’t get it”, all the opposite, maybe YOU didn’t get it because a reply to an incoming email seems intuitive and picking up the phone or opening a web browser with a link to a feedback form isn’t.

Lessons

So what can be learned from something seemingly unwanted – or to say it differently: not anticipated?

• Take your customers serious.
• Turn supposedly unwanted correspondence into contextual insight (observations drawn from data that resonates with an understanding of the business).
• Turn them into business opportunities. Let them help you make better and faster decisions or simply improve the quality and perception of your application.
• Optimize your automated emails following the guidelines for transactional email

Do it like Facebook. When Facebook realized that their users reply to email notifications about let’s say comments on a picture of them, they simply turned those replies into a comment on the comment.
On the downside, less users go to the actual site to post the comment and continue using the service but on the upside the communication doesn’t stop and becomes more real-time and valuable. A little give is a little more take I would say. Right on!

Maestros, at this point a quick note that I will be back writing my own content shortly (have quiet some stuff in my queue). So long, the highlights of week 6/2010:

• Paper iPad – you don’t have the money for a real iPad? Make one out of paper
• Using a Pre-Launch Checklist for your Website (by Ben Gremillion) – building a website is fun and believe me, it’s funnier to follow a protocol. This one is a great start.
• Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy (by Derek Sivers) – Value your first follower, embrace him/her as equal, the rest will follow…
• If 1 of 5 users has a problem in a usability test will it impact 1% or 20% of all users? (by Jeff Sauro) – take observed usability issues serious, there are more than likely critical issues.
• Google Maps Get Labs With 9 Cool New Features (by Stan Schroeder) – nothing fancy when you work in a mapping company like ESRI, but probably a heck-full of work for google.

• 11 Outstanding Online Resources for Web Developers (by Barb Dybwad) – Probably you already know all these resources, but if not… yes, here they are.
• Improve Conversions by Connecting with your Audience (by Aaron Griffith) – About your audience, think like them, breath like them, be like them… or so…
• Modal windows (by Anders Toxboe) – a nice collection of 33 modal windows.
• Increasing U.S. Census Participation (by James Fee) – Census is coming up and the challenge will be to count the ‘hard to count’ population.
• Happy Birthday Facebook – Facebook was launched exactly six years ago, on February 4, 2004 – Happy 6th birthday!
• 11 Common Web Design Mistakes (Blunders) (by Brujo Owoh) – Fly over the list and remind yourself of what to avoid!!