Simple/ugly versus smooth/sophisticated?

Good Forum interface

[2lame2rank]

Hi,

I run a small chatting-type forum, back on April 1st I did a "fake" redesign by switching the default skin. Rather than the older clean and proffesional-looking design I usually had, I went for a yellow and pink design, with headline text in the Comic MS font and some real cutesy rainbow graphics.

The membership loved it, noone really realized it was a joke, and I found my clickthru and other stats went up. My adsense clicks went up too so I stuck with the design for a while rather than taking it down on April 2nd.

So it's been 2 months now and I'm still with the yellow and pink, AdSense is still lovin' me, so what I'm asking is whether it is always better to have an "amateurish" design to be more friendly or am I just an exception?

Thanks for any thoughts! :)

[rogerd]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, 2lame!

That's an interesting phenomenon, and I can't really say why it seems to be working. Anyone else found that a major redesign really worked?

[netchicken1]

I think this might be similar to adblindness.

With so many slick professional sites out there that you just start to ignore them, when a quirky different site pops up it captures more attention.

[rogerd]

That's a good explanation, netchicken. I think sometimes ANY change can produce improved results, although in most cases the changed behavior will be temporary.

[Beagle]

The fact that it's a "small, chatting-type forum" could have something to do with it, too. So much of what works depends on your audience and what they're there for. If, for example, they're looking for friendly chat, having the site look like a neighbor's kitchen might be the best thing. To me, comic sans means "informal" and rainbow graphics mean "upbeat" and "friendly". If I were looking for help with a technical computer problem, a similar scheme might have me raising my eyebrows ;) , but if I'm looking for a happy, friendly group of folks to chat with, it would draw me in at least enough to take a look.

[edited by: Beagle at 5:57 pm (utc) on June 2, 2007]

[Marshall]

While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what Beagle said probably hits the target right on: it’s what your visitors expect. I have seen this even on e-commerce sites. I have one that sells collectables and such and is designed to give the feel of a country store, while another one I have sells novelties and things I can’t imagine why anyone would buy, and it’s very colorful and lighthearted. I believe if I were to switch the designs, both sites would suffer. Then again, you are talking about a species that will complain about $3.00 a gallon for gas but will spend $2.00 on a 24oz bottle of water. (sorry, short rant there)

[2lame2rank]

I think this might be similar to adblindness

Thanks for the welcome. :) Yes I was really surprised, I didn't realize how important the redesign could be. You say similar to adblindness, but the ad revenues went up and stayed up. ok I don't get much from the forum itself, but for the rest of the site the ctr is improved lots.

It's like this forum itself, it has got the right kind of atmosphere for a proffesional forum but my chatty forum looked too dull with a white background, so it got better when it got more colourful. I'm very careful not to have many "extras" and stuff to get in the way (like here!) it makes the conversation so much better and confuses people less.

But do you think it is better to "amateurize" a site with the Comic MS treatment, or is the pro-but-colourful way good like company sites which try to attract young people? My site is now like a geocities home page, but not done with Frontpage but valid HTML and all CSS! Or is it the psychology of creating an environment which attracts the kind of user you want and the kind of natural links you want too?

[Marshall]

You have to put yourself in the mind of the visitor, IMO. What does he/she expect from the site, as well as are the extras, e.g. ads, relavent. Even though we have become a multi-tasking group, simple still works best. Again, just my humble opinion.

[John_Blake]

While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what Beagle said probably hits the target right on: it’s what your visitors expect.

That is the clue - obviously your visitors expectancies were more in favor of the yellow and pink design, and not the sophisticated one. That's a reasonable enough explanation of your story.

[Beagle]

Or is it the psychology of creating an environment which attracts the kind of user you want and the kind of natural links you want too?

I'd say yes.