Avoiding the R word
Posted November 13th, 2008 by David Hamill
Many web teams I talk to long for the day they get to redesign their websites. I remember the days when I was the same. I now believe that the word ‘redesign’ should be avoided. I think it’s quicker and easier to improve a website in phases. That includes the look and feel.
Avoiding the R word makes it easier to improve your website.
Usability should be an iterative process
There is no such thing as the perfect design. You can test your site, fix the problems that you find, and then test it again. You’ll find more areas for improvement, they’ll just be different ones and hopefully less severe. The best way to constantly improve your website is to keep doing this in cycles (alongside other usability activities of course).
A redesign is a large task
Much of your website probably works OK. In a redesign project you end up changing all of it. A redesign is a massive undertaking for most sites. Much of the work involves changing parts of your website that actually work fine. In fact, by changing it so drastically you risk resolving some problems but introducing new ones elsewhere. Why not focus on the opportunities for improvement in small phases instead?
The distraction of the homepage
If you’ve ever been involved in a redesign project you’ll know how much time is wasted arguing about the minute details of the homepage.
The homepage is a symbol the whole project for many people. So around 60-80% of the time spent discussing the project can centre on the homepage. A few months after launch, much of the stuff you were arguing about can be changed without many people noticing.
Redesigns are too high profile
If you’re ‘introducing a new feature’, most of the company will leave you alone to get on with it. When the R word is used, everyone wants a piece of the action.
The company management will of course want to change something and you’ll have to waste time persuading them to leave it alone. You will of course fail. When the organisation is large, then there will be a lot of these important people sticking their nose in. This can result in butchery of the very things you’re trying to improve.
Not many problems will require a redesign to fix.
Many of the usability problems on your site can be improved without a redesign. Don’t be scared to make big changes to your website over a period of time. The things that appear to be gaping inconsistencies to you will often go unnoticed by your users. Those who notice will seldom care.
The threat of deadlines
Website redesigns usually have deadlines. Deadlines are a good motivator, but they can lead to corners being cut. Many of the requirements you started with can be dropped in order to meet the deadline you set.
When you release iterative improvements, those deadlines are easier to reach. You can also pick up dropped requirements in the next phase. When you’re doing a redesign you may have to wait years to do the same.
How did you get in this situation in the first place?
If you feel you need to redesign the site, then ask yourself how you managed to get yourself into this situation. Perhaps it’s because you haven’t improved the site significantly since the last redesign? So what are you going to do this time to stop it happening again?
Even if you do redesign it this time, consider planning this to be your last full-scale redesign.
Learning from the big boys
When was the last time the BBC redesigned its website? How about Amazon? These organisations change their websites, sometimes significantly. But they no longer seem to redesign them. Instead they evolve over time.
By doing so, they constantly refine the site without having to start again from scratch.
Treat your website like a garden
The approach I favour is to constantly improve a website instead of redesigning it every few years. It’s a lot more efficient. Think of your website as a garden. You don’t uproot the whole thing every 3 years because you’re bored with it. Instead you identify areas for improvement and it develops and improves over time.
By doing this, you leave the stuff that’s working OK alone and concentrate on the areas that can be improved. As a result your website will improve more rapidly.
Tags: redesign, Usability testing
10 Responses to “Avoiding the R word”
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:42 am
I’m beginning to see your point David. We’re going through this pain right now.
The pareto principle implies that we can improve 80% of our site’s value by focussingon 20% of it.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
Thanks Ross. This exactly my point. Focus on improving the things you know to be wrong rather than scrapping the whole site.
Even a complete redesign can be done in phases without actually calling it a redesign.
December 9th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Very well put David, bravo!
“Redesigns are too high profile” – never a truer word said. With so many non-designers angling for action it’s doomed, I’ve seen the same happen with coders and writers too. Combined with the deadline problems it’s a catastrophe in the brewing and nobody is happy with the results.
Ross, the Pareto principle fits so well it could have been inspired by 80% of all websites
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:29 am
Thanks for pointing me to this post, David. It will take some energy to point the stakeholders in this direction, so each additional point of view on iterative site development helps me speak more persuasively.
February 27th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Totally agree about homepages, I made a point when I worked agency side, to ensure that we worked fully through all the product/category/etc pages before getting to the homepage. Designers had to be convinced, but I think it made for better designs.
I actually think it’s worth thinking about as a separate project/stream within a design so you can keep it out/separate.
We went through a redesign last year (We had to for various branding & technology reasons) and it was painful with all of the pitfalls you point out.
February 27th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Thanks David, it was remembering a conversation with you that gave me the idea to write this post in the first place.
March 26th, 2009 at 9:59 am
I see your point, but I totally disagree and fear you are lost in semantics.
What’s wrong with a ‘redesign’ if the site needs it?
We worked for 2 months on a redesign because after 3 years, we’d noted all the niggles, and ideas for improvement and thought it best to put it together in a holistic endeavour, rather than add a bit here, a bit there. Of course, along the way, essential tweaks were made.
The result: an immediate 30% surge in response and sales.
The online world moves so fast, every now and again a redesign is just essential.
March 26th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Hi Chris, thanks for commenting. I’m glad you were able to see such an increase in sales. But where do you think that 30% came from?
You see, the way you look at it is that your new site realised a 30% increase in sales. The way I see it, your old site was costing you up to 30% in sales for up to 3 years while you did nothing about it.
March 26th, 2009 at 10:38 am
You should read through Sabrina Mach post on Designers Dilema: visual convention vs. breaking new ground, and replace visual convention with keeping the old design!
March 26th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
This was a good read especially how im going through some rather heavy ‘re-thinks’ for some websites.
It’s very true about the homepage, but you have to consider it may be the single most important page on the site as the majority of your traffic will enter your site from there. But yes, don’t waste too much time on the minute details of the homepage. Often times, they get changed anyway.
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