The Risks Of Web Redesign
May 26, 2004 | 
15 Comments
As many of you will know Dave Shea redesigned Mezzoblue to very mixed reviews. Aside from what I feel about the actual design (still undecided) I thought the feedback was very, very interesting.
For one thing, It’s real a testament to Dave’s influence in the Web design world.
For another, it’s a shining example of how change can effect the users of a Web site.
With Change Comes Risk
While I agree that sometimes change is needed, there is no doubt that there is sometimes huge risk that comes along with major changes. With every thought of a complete redesign you have to ask yourself if it’s worth it.
Now, I don’t want to say that Dave shouldn’t have gone ahead with a redesign. Regardless of what anyone says, Mezzoblue is a personal site, albeit of a professional, and it’s a place where Dave should feel comfortable taking risks and trying new things if he so chooses.
It’s a risk, no doubt, but it’s his risk to take.
However, had this been a professional site, I think it could have been a really big mistake.
When you go for a complete redesign like this you need to be damn sure it’s an improvement across the board and that your users will be ready, willing and able to make the transition. I did my best to do this with my own redesign, and I can tell you it’s a lot of work.
It is also very ironic because so many Web sites out there really need complete redesigns and are unwilling to take that risk.
In any case, I’m not ready to pass judgment on Dave’s new design. It’s a major departure, has some great new features, and has some changes I’m not sure I like yet. I need to use it more.
(Side note: I love the new comment highlighting in theory, maybe not so much in practice, but I could really see a use for it. For example, highlighting the author’s comments or marking anonymous comments, etc.)
Reduce Your Redesign Risk
One of the great things Dave did with his redesign is provide a way to go back to the old version. That alone makes a big, big difference.
I’m sure there was more that he did that we don’t know yet, but as a veteran of countless redesigns, resulting in various levels of success, I figured I could share a bit of lessons learned.
So…here are a few more ways you can help your users with a redesign:
- Make sure you really need a redesign first. There are many, many times when it might not be worth the risk, let alone the time and effort.
- Set concrete, realistic goals for your new design and stick to them. Don’t get too crazy.
- Let your visitors know it’s coming beforehand.
- User test your new design before you launch. At least have a few “user representatives” go through the site and offer feedback.
- Consider a staged approach instead. Maybe you just need to enhance portions of your site, not the whole thing.
- Consider a beta version to let people try it out first.
- Gather feedback about what your visitors would like from a redesign before you begin.
- Respond to feedback (both before and after relaunch) and make changes if needed.
Hope that helps out when thinking about your next redesign. Feel free to add your own redesign tips, experiences and thoughts.
Filed under: Web Design
Comments
1. eric said:
Agreed. Your comment about ‘make sure it’s an improvement across the board’ was one of the first things I thought, following my initial ‘what the h–?’ response.
I still think it reminds me a bit too much of oldschool Simplebits, which isn’t very good in an already small and limited circle of ‘pro’ blogger-designers. The cool little touches he added don’t quite counter the overal discontinuity and hodge-podge feel.
Anyway, I think in the case of such a strong change it’s important to try and make it at least slightly gradual. The new Zeldman, for instance, is vastly different from a year ago, but it’s still clearly Zeldman; many of the blog redesigns I’ve seen keep the sections and a similar overall structure, changing the visuals. Dave was a little more daring, and I think that’s backfiring a little.
[side-note; you’ve spelled ‘remember’ wrong in the comment preview sidebar, and it says ‘reading previewing’! :D ]
Posted on May 25, 2004 11:30 PM | #
2. Aaron Egaas said:
Totally agree with you here. Dave took a great risk, but at the same time, its his personal blog, and he left the option to switch back if desired, which I think is a great move, but this is the entire point of CSS anyway right?
I think that redesigns are an interative process, and a large structural change is good only when the users are ready, willing, and able to accept new changes across the board. In Dave’s case, I simply find it ironic that the new design features almost no blue, while blue is in the name. I’ve had similar trouble because in my domain, digitalphlame, I find it hard to make a template without any flames in it or even reds and oranges. I feel like Dave tried to go off too far of what people are comfortable or assumed to see when they hit his site. To be honest I thought my browser was treaking out when I loaded it in class earlier this afternoon. It kinda glared at me and I had to squint to read headings and stuff. A second look allows the genius to come through. The template has some great features, like that slick top nav and the comment highlighting.
Posted on May 26, 2004 12:04 AM | #
3. david said:
I think the frequency of change is also a factor. Sites like Simplebits and Whitespace are always being tweaked and modified, so you visit them with the expectation that something will be a little different each time.
But Mezzoblue has always looked like Mezzoblue, so when Dave unveiled his redesign, it had a pretty jarring effect on his readers.
Posted on May 26, 2004 12:42 AM | #
4. Aleksandar said:
Reading comments over at Dave’s is pretty scary. :)
I built (in the company) the commercial web site, for a bookie. Before it was ready for re-sale, it was sold again to a different client.
No problem for management, but problem for me as the code at that moment was not ready for reskinning.
So the second client gets a web site with just different colours, a fact with which first client was not and still is not is very happy.
Now I have the code ready, and I have the redesign draft which is going to the second client’s UAT today.
So I can really relate to the subject of your post. Client is used to the design and it’s not really keen to change it although the contract (kind of) enforces it. Their users are from all over the world and who knows what the reactions will be.
My fealin’ is that no matter what you do, you are bound to have people disliking it and those that like it. If the second group is larger, you’re on the good track.
Problem is that experience tells me the first group is much louder.
Posted on May 26, 2004 03:07 AM | #
5. Jemaleddin said:
Dangers of commenting on a web redesign:
Saying, "Congrats on getting it up!"
Although if what Dave had wanted was more pep in his site… =-)
Posted on May 26, 2004 04:48 AM | #
6. Bobby van der Sluis said:
Redesign risks depend on the type of website. They could be huge for professional and corporate sites, as for a personal website I think they are rather small.
Mezzoblue is a web designer’s personal website. It is Dave’s business card and a place where he can host discussions, experiment and if it is his style, even go wild.
For designers it is important to be innovative and completely change the visual design of a website frequently. People expect you to be inspirational and show something completely new every now and then, so not redesigning even imposes the risk of becoming old news.
I really wonder how many people won’t visit Mezzoblue anymore if they don’t like the new design. I would call it a risk if a designer shows a structural lack of graphical or web design skills. But for someone with a good track record this risk will be very small.
And again, there is no rule that a design should be finished with a first go. The great thing of blogs is that you receive feedback immediately, so you can act to your audience’s opinion, a mechanism that Dave uses very well.
For professional and corporate sites the risks could be huge. A brand should be recognizable and is worth a certain amount of money. By all costs it should reflect what a company wants to be. Fixed colour palettes, logos, type rules, etc. need to be applied for consistency of all the company’s communications.
I always wondered in what extend it is important for a personal website to be consistent in logo(type) and colour palettes. As someone already mentioned, blue is key in the name Mezzoblue. But then again, does it really matter? Dave and Mezzoblue already have built up a good name and for a designer a well known name and URL are far more important than anything else.
Posted on May 26, 2004 05:51 AM | #
7. Jonathan Snook said:
Redesigning a personal site certainly allows for larger risks to be taken. But for higher profile and corporate sites, a more iterative approach may be in order. Slowly change elements of the overall design. Like the now infamous comment highlighting, if he had implemented it with the old design and then slowly tweaked it over the following weeks, I suspect there would have been less of an issue with it.
Posted on May 26, 2004 07:09 AM | #
8. Nick Finck said:
This is why we should all conduct focus groups and do user testing ‘before’* the redesign launches.
Seriously, it’s that simple. When Digital Web Magazine was being redesigned I did a lot of focus group reviews with a few groups of people, some regular existing readers of the site, others not so, some groups of industry experts, others not so. *Of course not all of this was done “before” the launch of the redesign, some of it was done after the fact… but at least it was done.
I think its one thing to work with a very talented designer and just let them take the design to the next level, but it’s quite another thing to do this at the same time using existing reader/user feedback to guide the art direction, IA, and more.
I would like to think the Digital Web Magazine redesign is a good example of form and function driven by user-centered design… yes, a good example, not perfect by any means, but good.
Posted on May 26, 2004 08:47 AM | #
9. supercrisis said:
I agree with Bobby, the risk of not redesigning is just as high, and whether I like the design or not, ‘Content is King’ and Dave’s articles are worth wading thru almost any design to get to.
I’m in the (extremely lengthy) process of redesigning a personal project of my own and it’s a very interesting challenge. The redesign includes the front and back of the site (I have a custom authoring system) and I’m overhauling the IA too.
It’s very interesting to see so many of my favorite blogs undergoing redesign, and in fact keeps me motivated!
Posted on May 26, 2004 08:56 AM | #
10. manuti said:
Very interesting rules, at this moment I’m thinking in redesign my modest blog. I go before your steps.
(Sorry for my English)
Posted on May 26, 2004 11:05 AM | #
11. Angie said:
Thanks for this post - it brings up some interesting issues.
When it comes to a corporate/business web site, I’m 100% in agreement with the steps and hints you outline.
But for a personal site, particularly one run by a web builder - well, I have a few comments to make:
Posted on May 27, 2004 05:07 AM | #
12. scalygreen said:
…and if you’re going to redesign a high-end retail site, be sure not to make it so that 50% of your users can’t even read the text!
Tiffany.com should read your article.
You might be interested in frogreview.com on tiffany.com…
Posted on May 28, 2004 11:39 AM | #
13. Peter Zignego said:
Good rules if your making a commerical site. But I don’t think that they merit any consideration for a redesign of a personal blog.
If people thought to themselves “Do I really need to redesign?” everytime they thought about it, we probablly would never have seen the new zeldman, the new mezzoblue, or the new stop design.
If you take a look at the previous versions of those three sites, all three were very good. Very, very good in fact. Did they “need” a redesign? No, they didn’t. They were all very good, functional, appealing websites. But instead, their owners decided that they wanted to redesign. They wanted to bring in some fresh, creative air. To do something new.
And in some cases (stop design), something drastic.
But if Doug hadn’t decided to do something radically different, we would have never seen the new version of this website. A version that is, in my opinon, most excellent.
Personally, I think that creativity should be something that we are always striving for on the web. If it isn’t, then why don’t we just all have left justified, black, Times New Roman text on a plain white background as our websites stylesheet? Kudos to the designers who are willing to go out on a limb and take a chance for the sake of originality.
Posted on May 29, 2004 04:47 PM | #
14. Mo said:
VERY interesting Topic… I put you’re article on my site for people to check it out!! Nice Work.
PS: I like the design of the site.
Posted on June 7, 2004 11:35 AM | #
15. Finkie said:
Great work you have done.
I will use this great information with my next re-design of some of my websites.
Hope you will come with some more great web-design info in tha future!
Keep up your goood work :)
Posted on July 17, 2004 03:29 PM | #
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