Websites, like anything else begin to show their age after a while. Changes in how the industry builds websites, the technologies available, and the way users interact with websites cause website re-designs to be a necessity.
When I begin discussing a re-design with a client, there are a couple of concerns that come forward with most of them. What if people do not recognize my new site? The people I talk to love the site; why does it need to be changed? A good re-design should take care of all of these concerns and it is important for clients to understand this immediately when considering a re-design.
existing branding
When going through the initial thought process for re-designing a website it is important to consider the lifetime of branding and identity the company has worked so hard to establish. This is where we can alleviate a significant portion of client concerns. Maintaining the branding as well as some elements or “feel” from the previous website will put users (and clients) at ease. Obviously we want visitors and clients to notice the significant changes made, but we also want them to feel like they are in the same place. On the web, we have no sense of location. Simple typos can rocket-jump the user across the internet and into the unknown. We need to make sure visitors know they are in the same place; it is just different now.
case study
Take for instance the re-design of TSN.ca:
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I do not want to comment on the design here but rather the esthetics of the re-design. TSN succeeds here, although the website has a new look. It boasts different navigation and a significant shift in the use of the colour pallet, but it remains recognizable. The overall colour scheme has been maintained, however the colours have shifted away from the high concentration of red. The logo remains, and we still see remnants of the “line” vector art branding throughout the site. Everything looks very different, but as users we understand that it is still TSN.
existing usability
Nostalgia is something else we need to carefully consider when re-designing a site. With some re-designs, there are a significant number of users who like the site the way it is. Backlash like this has been seen a number of times with social networking site Facebook. Large numbers of users have lashed out against design changes and threatened to stop using the service. When completing a re-design it is important to understand how users currently interact with the site, what is working and what is not. From here we can make our usability changes. We need to balance the need for new features with users understanding of how existing features work. Sometimes it can be useful to observe users interacting with an existing site before re-designing it to better understand how it works. Applications like Website Optimizer can also help test parts of a re-design to see which options yield the desired result most effectively.
beyond the traditional computer
Even though users have expectations regarding the manner in which they interact with a website, the ways users are interacting with websites are increasingly changing. If the website to be re-designed is experiencing a significant amount of mobile traffic, implementing a mobile-specific site as part of the re-design can be beneficial. Other things to consider include designing for televisions and game console browsers, which are beginning to trend upwards as users start to use them to browse the internet.
search engine optimization
Of course, there are a couple of housekeeping issues that also need to be taken care of with a re-design. Our goal should be to increase traffic - not stifle it. With this in mind, we need to make sure we keep search engines happy. If the URL structure of the website changes at all, make sure to include 301 redirects from the old pages to the new ones. This will not only direct search engines to the correct place, but users with old bookmarks as well. Site maps with search engines also need to be updated to ensure they can find and catalogue your new content as expediently as possible.
When completing a re-design, re-inventing the wheel is often not necessary. Of course the visual esthetic of the website needs to be upgraded, but we must also consider the existing users and the manner in which they use the website. We need to account for technology upgrades and changes in user habits. The goal is to create a successful re-design, however moving into the future without studying the website’s past increases the risk for downfall.
Tags: Branding, Clients, Design, Development, Search Engine Optimization
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