Busted Looking Apps Don’t Work And Lie

A great article on A List Apart highlights the importance of making sure whatever digital products you create looks visually attractive.  The article cites several studies that show a direct connection between how an something looks and how its functionality and credibility is perceived.

Two of the last major software projects I’ve worked with had extremely outdated and “busted” looking designs.  They just looked out of place in 2008/2009, like relics of a past digital age.  Now I’m not talking about green text on a black background matrix theme, just shoddy old WinForms designs and some really generic and sloppy “photoshop filter flurry” web design.  You know the type; “Ooo I can drop shadow, Ooo glow, Ooo look I can bevel and emboss this”.

The importance of this article is that it cites several studies which highlight the importance of having a good looking product. Previosly it was hard to quantify or provide some type of ROI numbers for spending a little bit more time getting a program or website looking the best it could.  I could imagine people, rightly so, blowing off my concerns with “oh thats John just trying to get our site into the “gouguenheim”.

A good number to keep in mind is that 46.1% of users ranked “visual appearance” as their #1 factor in determining your websites credibility.   Therefore a busted  looking website is going to receive lower click through rates on ads and higher bounce rates because half your users don’t perceive your application as credible.

Normally I’m pretty apathetic regarding visual design as long as it looks good enough.  For example if I have to jump through some CSS or Table hoops to achieve a specific visual effect I’m prone to make some sort of concession and do something different but these stats really change the game.

It would be a really great experiment to take a really crappy looking application and “dress it up” and see what happens to your advertising revenue or visitor engagement.