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Ask HN: Crappy website design seems more trustworthy?

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Re: Ask HN: Crappy website design seems more trustworthy?

#11

Post by tyleo »

brailsafe wrote: post #10
tyleo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this true in general? I’ve had the opposite experience. I’d love to see some data if you have any.

Whether it's true or not, it's definitely a rule I follow for many situations. If a restaurant has loud signage in a busy area, sometimes literally flashing, it ain't gunna be good. Most new websites try to fill negative space with unsubstantial bullshit

I agree with that example you just shared. I think I don’t view it as the same as your quote though:

> the more obvious effort that has been put into a thing's aesthetics

I would consider that sign example to not be aesthetically pleasing. Maybe it’s more related to the ‘loudness’ of the aesthetics.

There are a lot of simple text blogs on HN which is a great aesthetic, some with lots of thought to keep them simple. Thats the counterpoint IMO.

Re: Ask HN: Crappy website design seems more trustworthy?

#13

Post by handfuloflight »

JohnFen wrote: post #4

I know that in general, the flashier a thing is -- that is, the more obvious effort that has been put into a thing's aesthetics -- the less likely that thing is to be great. My hypothesis is it's because time and money investment was put into aesthetics at the expense of making the product or service better.

I think this becomes less the case as good design and aesthetics become table stakes.

Re: Ask HN: Crappy website design seems more trustworthy?

#14

Post by xg15 »

I think "crappy" implies an older, maybe even pre-web 2.0 design. This suggests the site has already been around for a long time, specifically before all the surveillance capitalism and general enshittification trends started. If they didn't update their design since then, that would give some hope that the site still runs more or less unchanged since back then.

This is how I'd explain the impression of trustworthiness. But of course this is only an impression and doesn't tell you anything about how the site actually operates.

Re: Ask HN: Crappy website design seems more trustworthy?

#15

Post by al_borland »

I think there is a sweet spot.

Too "modern" and I assume a site is using excessive amounts of tracking and playing other tricks with A/B testing different marketing tactics for services to try to milk their customers for all their worth.

Too crappy and I start to question if the site is actually secure and if they are putting enough money into IT... or if it's even the real site vs some kind of scam.

Both can be problems that erode trust, but they are different problems.

Re: Ask HN: Crappy website design seems more trustworthy?

#17

Post by brailsafe »

tyleo wrote: post #11
brailsafe wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether it's true or not, it's definitely a rule I follow for many situations. If a restaurant has loud signage in a busy area, sometimes literally flashing, it ain't gunna be good. Most new websites try to fill negative space with unsubstantial bullshit

I agree with that example you just shared. I think I don’t view it as the same as your quote though: > the more obvious effort that has been put into a thing's aesthetics I would consider that sign example to not be aesthetically pleasing. Maybe it’s more related to the ‘loudness’ of the aesthetics. There are a lot of simple text blogs on HN which is a great aesthetic, some with lots of thought to keep them simple. T…

There's an idiom that describes this; "Putting lipstick on a pig".

If a thing looks and feels great, and has something worth making so, then there's no issue at all.

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