Designing For Credibility
Jun 28th, 07 | 6 remarksA few weeks back I read an interesting article called the Librarian’s Guide to Finding Websites You Can Trust. According to the author, if your site is available, current, and adheres to copyright laws, then you can be considered credible.
By this standard, I wondered, where does that leave design? It lends to credibility as well! This led me to another thought - what about ready-made themes or templates? Does using a template reduce your credibility for certain audiences? Conversely, does having a custom design improve it?
Fast forward to last night. I was researching some affiliate networks to find design related products which might tie in to DA, and spent some time looking through Clickbank in particular. I was surprised to find it littered with questionable digital products and services.
Many of the listings themselves reeked of pathetic baiting attempts, but out of curiosity I started clicking through. I had to smile when I was greeted with designs that were just what I suspected they’d be. You know the kind… the one column, large red headlined, yellow highlighted, often header-less sales letter templates we saw constantly in the 90’s.
Again I thought about credibility. Focusing in on design related products specifically, how can these cookie cutter sites actually drive sales? They’ve long been associated with scams and shoddy info-products. For internet marketing or SEO products, I’m sure there will always be enough gullible naive people out there dying to take the bait… but in design?
Case in point - here we have two similar products geared toward learning CSS. The first in digital format, the second in print. Which site looks more trustworthy to you?
Which would you rather learn from? Which one suggests professionalism and a knowledgeable author? Does the site below have a higher perceived value than the one above?
(Personally, I wouldn’t buy a product like “how to master CSS” from a site that looks as if it was laid out in tables with Frontpage.)
Here’s another example, the first of which is so offensive, I cringe just putting up a screenshot on my own site. It’s a typical sales letter template for Photoshop video tutorials.
Would this so-called design convince you to whip out your credit card? Hardly! This person is trying to sell you training material on Photoshop, yet it’s devoid of any graphics save a “hand-drawn” looking arrow pointing downward! It lends no credibility to the author’s expertise.
The second site, on the other hand, at least has what appears to be a custom design (albeit slightly dated). It has a navigation system in place, demos, and even details like a tagline and copyright info. I might be persuaded to buy from a site like this.
Now finally we see something lighter, cleaner, and most likely a site with very good products. The burning question is, why do we think so? Is it the presentation of the product(s)… the selected colors… text formatting? In terms of designing for credibility, what makes you a believer?
It’s kind of like the snake oil merchants of the old west isn’t it? Just as a store front makes a retailer more credible than a traveling merchant working out of the back of his carriage (or the back of his van, today), your visual representation on the web is what represents your company. Your website IS your storefront. If a company doesn’t care enough to at least put a morsel of effort into their site, it’s probably not being run well, and probably for a good reason.
However, there’s always a flipside. Does a plumber need an awesome website? No. In fact, they don’t need a website at all. If a distant mountain cabin rental company has a crappy webpage, that isn’t the mark of their credibility. You have to put limits to judging a company by their websites, though in a broad and more general sense, I believe it to be a very valid measure of a company’s character.
Jun 28, 07 | 10:22 amAh… But the thing you’ve missed is that these sites are aimed squarely at either people who *want* to be designers, or people who *think* they are designers - and not the designers themselves! ;)
Jun 28, 07 | 10:44 amPerfect analogy J, and I agree not everyone needs a site in order to be credible.
Paul - the ones who *think* they’re designers are the worst. They’re probably the very same people coming up with sales letter templates in the first place! :) It just baffles me how people try to portray themselves as knowledgeable sources, and yet put so little effort into their “storefront” as J said. How do they expect to be taken seriously?
Jun 28, 07 | 11:34 amI don’t think they do expect (or particularly want) to be taken seriously… It’s all about money at the end of the day - and if they can talk somebody into thinking they can improve their skills, then that somebody will hand over their cash!
Jun 28, 07 | 11:38 amIt’s all about putting forth the smallest effort possible for the biggest payout. It’s just like spam. They only need one sucker to buy their “product” to make it all worthwhile.
Jun 28, 07 | 11:54 am[...] Adaptations has a great post about Designing for Credibility that offers solid reviews and opinions about the psychology behind different website designs and [...]
Jun 29, 07 | 12:45 am