Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
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Re: Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
#2Virb does look real good. My only worry is that it doesn't offer many features that matter to normal people. The best addition is the button to stop customization. For the majority of myspace users they're not going to care for most of the techie features. They could have some tricks up their sleeves though.
When Purevolume updated their site a while back I was real dissapointed at the lack of additional functions. They just added the social network part into the site. I'd hope that they are taking a more innovative approach to this project and not just trying to compete directly with everything Myspace offers.
Re: Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
#3Heh. I would like to see the author's home page circa 1998. I will bet cash it had a textured background, MIDI file, cat picture, stock art animation, link to Lycos, etc.
Everyone's first web page looks ugly. Most will stay ugly.
But there's something to the idea that ugly works, that worse is better. Direct Marketers have known for decades that a 'downmarket' look improves response, at least in the US. Junk mail looks trashy because that's what thousands of generations in a viciously competitive ecosystem has produced. Ugly works.
Re: Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
#4In a sense, by definition not, since good design is design that achieves its purpose.
Sometimes ultraclean design can send a message of fanciness or snobbishness that turns off "ordinary" people. But I think a good designer can temper that fairly easily.
Re: Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
#5Heh. I would like to see the author's home page circa 1998. I will bet cash it had a textured background, MIDI file, cat picture, stock art animation, link to Lycos, etc. Everyone's first web page looks ugly. Most will stay ugly. But there's something to the idea that ugly works, that worse is better. Direct Marketers have known for decades that a 'downmarket' look improves response, at least in the US. Junk mail loo…
"Direct Marketers have known for decades that a 'downmarket' look improves response"
Interesting. Source?
Re: Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
#6Heh. I would like to see the author's home page circa 1998. I will bet cash it had a textured background, MIDI file, cat picture, stock art animation, link to Lycos, etc. Everyone's first web page looks ugly. Most will stay ugly. But there's something to the idea that ugly works, that worse is better. Direct Marketers have known for decades that a 'downmarket' look improves response, at least in the US. Junk mail loo…
"Direct Marketers have known for decades that a 'downmarket' look improves response" Interesting. Source?
3 years doing ads for the Yellow Pages and DM. This guy has the same conclusion with good examples:
Re: Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
#7In a sense, by definition not, since good design is design that achieves its purpose. Sometimes ultraclean design can send a message of fanciness or snobbishness that turns off "ordinary" people. But I think a good designer can temper that fairly easily.
I don't believe that most users will put up with poor design.
It's just that some sites like myspace have so much momentum that users will go to them despite their poor design because all their friends are there already.
The problem in terms of design is just the opposite. I would say that users' high expectations with respect to presentation have hurt web startups in a big way since many founders can't afford a professional web designer. Flash over substance is always a bad thing.
Re: Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
#8Heh. I would like to see the author's home page circa 1998. I will bet cash it had a textured background, MIDI file, cat picture, stock art animation, link to Lycos, etc. Everyone's first web page looks ugly. Most will stay ugly. But there's something to the idea that ugly works, that worse is better. Direct Marketers have known for decades that a 'downmarket' look improves response, at least in the US. Junk mail loo…
eh, wayback machine only goes back to 2004 for mikeindustries:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040617123234/http://www.mikeindustries.com/
Re: Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
#9In a sense, by definition not, since good design is design that achieves its purpose. Sometimes ultraclean design can send a message of fanciness or snobbishness that turns off "ordinary" people. But I think a good designer can temper that fairly easily.
I don't believe that most users will put up with poor design. It's just that some sites like myspace have so much momentum that users will go to them despite their poor design because all their friends are there already. The problem in terms of design is just the opposite. I would say that users' high expectations with respect to presentation have hurt web startups in a big way since many founders can't afford a prof…
Quick quiz: To make the most profit, sell by:
- reason, to solve needs
- fashion, because they can be made to want it
Re: Is Good Design a liability when you're trying to appeal to the Masses? (MySpace vs. Virb)
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Direct Marketers have known for decades that a 'downmarket' look improves response" Interesting. Source?
3 years doing ads for the Yellow Pages and DM. This guy has the same conclusion with good examples: http://alistapart.com/articles/whitespace
How sure are you that the relevant quality of the successful ad shown in the link isn't downmarketness but that it's eyecatching? As the author says, the 'upmarket' one is harmonious - which is a really bad quality in an ad. The damn thing needs to grab you! If you can do that and maintain an upmarket, snooty feel, then you have a big win when selling such beauty products. Probably most things, too.
Let's hear about your experiences.