Forum Moderators: open
It's been one year, and now i'm wiping off the old site design to start over fresh. The logo, navigation and body text will stay in the same areas but all of the graphics will be made over with a completely different visual concept.
I guess I just wanted some reassurance that one year is a reasonable amount of time to wait before doing a re-design...
How often do you folks all re-design a client's site or your own site?
I would say the answer would be based on a number of factors, the most important of which is, "How well has your current design performed?"
These are just a few of the questions that should be considered before embarking on a major redesign. If your site has a substantial amount of repeat visitors you also need to consider how they may react.
Some designs will (almost) never need a major redesign. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." There is a great deal of truth in that old saying, but that does not mean you cannot "tweak a little here" and "refine a little there..."
[edited by: papabaer at 7:36 am (utc) on June 16, 2002]
I try to avoid changing structural elements as much as possible (i.e. directory names, file name for a page on a given topic) so as to not break external links (like SE's!)
Also when I do make structural changes I tend to watch the logs closely for a few weeks and add redirects for the pages that are most often requested but now in a new location.
Color depth, screen resolution, scripts inabled and browser version are some of the main ones.
In direct marketing, materials that are performing are not replaced unless new materials have been tested and shown to improve on a control measure. I think that's a good way to go with a website as well, however you want to try the test.
Otherwise, the urge to "look fresh" may hurt rather than help. Even if pages are 5 years old, if they are producing good numbers, I wouldn't replace them without a very compelling reason. It's too much like roulette.
Remember "new" Coke?
the site I look after currently just had a year long rebuild to deal with some potential "emergencies"...it is going to spend the next 24 months having another complete make over going right down to a basic site architecture level
my first pro client just asked about yet another redesign this weekend...they are an arts organisation and feel the site gets stale if it doesn't get a major change in look every 6-12 months...this time I hope I can persuade them to let me shift all the presentation over to css...that way they can change the colour scheme every week if they so wish
it's horses for courses and largely an ongoing process anyway
In direct marketing, materials that are performing are not replaced unless new materials have been tested and shown to improve on a control measure. I think that's a good way to go with a website as well, however you want to try the test.
However, in retail, "floor resets" are done on a regular basis whether products are selling well or not. Retail marketers have studies as evidence that show one way to keep customers' interest in coming in to your store is to make sure the store looks new / fresh / updated on a regular basis.
I think the same thing applies, to a degree, to web sites. Even the most successful web sites could use a freshening-up on a regular basis. Otherwise you risk the appearance of being stale, of looking like your site hasn't changed, like you have nothing new to offer, like you haven't progressed, etc.
Of course, new content can solve some of these concerns. But in retail, adding in a new line of denim jeans isn't good enough to make them sell -- you've got to rearrange things every now and then to bring back some of the excitement of just being in the store. I think the analogy can be applied to a degree with business web sites.
How often is too often? We recommend that our most successful clients, the ones with popular and well-trafficked sites, consider a redesign (not necessarily an entirely new look, mind you) every 8-15 months. Those with less popular sites can afford to go a bit longer, maybe 15-24 months. But your mileage may vary.
However, in retail, "floor resets" are done on a regular basis whether products are selling well or not. Retail marketers have studies as evidence that show one way to keep customers' interest in coming in to your store is to make sure the store looks new / fresh / updated on a regular basis.
Personally I hate when retailers do that. I want to be able to walk in the door, get what I want, pay, and get out. And I want to do all that as fast as possible. (Yep, retailers hate shoppers like me!)
Personally I hate when retailers do that. I want to be able to walk in the door, get what I want, pay, and get out. And I want to do all that as fast as possible. (Yep, retailers hate shoppers like me!)
Yeah, bothers me, too. Then again, I'm a guy and I'm not the target customer for most of those stores!
Getting into CSS and dynamic stuff has been the prime reason. The idea of updating sites from a back end appeals to me, where "small tweaks" are usually site-wide changes for the better.
I like the idea of a "build", where you put all of your intended improvements on to the site in one go. But somehow I always find the time to tweak here and there in between and see if that tweak has any effect :)
