Mint Digital

The Click #12

When I studied computer science any design was referred to disdainfully as ‘pretty printing’. The geek part of my brain worries that website design is superficial and trivial.

I’ve always felt a bit stumped trying to explain why it matters.

Until I read this:

“All the cues that people rely on are muted online. There is no touch or smell or location. There is very little sound. So we obsess about subtle cues of typeface or colour or photography. It is hard to overestimate how much these things matter” from KnockKnock by Seth Godin.

I asked Noam - my creative partner - to talk me through the magic that goes into web design:

FreshDirect vs ASDA

Check this fabulous site for US online grocers FreshDirect. Green and yellow don’t usually go together, but they’ve picked just the right tones to make it work. Green communicates freshness, yellow
communicates warmth. The consistency of the photos and the
neatness of type show an attention to detail that rivals a
well-run deli.

By comparison Asda’s site looks downmarket. Too many ill-considered colours makes it hard for the eye to navigate. The buttons look home-made. The pictures are irregular and show packages - not food. In short, it seem like they don’t really care.

Interflora vs Boutique Florists

It feels like Interflora churn out bouquets. The main navigation is unnecessarily bulky. The flowers look plastic-y - and the heavy border round them doesn’t help. The title above the flowers has been saved at low resolution (see the degraded, mottled purple background to ‘Timeless Traditional Bouquets’) creating a tired, even wilted, feeling.

We couldn’t find an excellent ecommerce site for flowers. But
Bryony shows how attention to detail stimulates desire. They use a dreamy photo of a velvety pink flower. Carefully applying that colour to the rest of the site shows respect and love for their product. The white space make you calm and unrushed - the way you want to feel when considering romance.

(Another interesting example is Paul Thomas). He looks like the florist you’d use if the Queen was coming for tea.)

Geek at heart
I’ll always be slightly confounded about design. Luckily Noam knows what looks good - and how to make it. That’s important because, in business, as Seth Godin says, ‘it is hard to overestimate how much these things matter.’