The look of the advertiser on web design: the basics of creating an atypical design for a typical site

Introduction

"Need more gold"
Unrecognized economic genius

It all started with this conversation in the comments. In short, the content can be reduced to the following: the customer wants “beautifully”, the designer wants to make beautifully (without quotes); the customer gushes out ideas that are often harmful to usability and sales, the designer knows how to act within the framework of typical usability and style decisions.

And then an advertiser / sales person appears on the scene. He also has an opinion. And the opinion is this: to the devotee, the beauty is true and blatant kitsch, throw in the garbage about ideas; The site must work, generate profits: initiate sales, serve for branding, attract calls - what the customer needs. You need to investigate the target audience - and find out which design will help to get the desired response from it. And create from scratch exactly what is required to achieve the goal. Typical solutions are not suitable - they are not thought out for a specific combination of customer / target. Worse, they become familiar.
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"Good," - agree with him. Even great. But how to make an original decision where originality cannot be in principle (I will give an example from that discussion - “online store selling bridal bouquets”)? And how to understand what exactly the audience wants?

A full answer to this question would take many pages. The author will try to set forth certain principles of the direction in which to move, interviewing the customer and studying the target site's central office, and how then to use this data to create such a design that would in itself serve the task - that is, would bring profit in one way or another. . At the same time, the author does not plan to touch on specifics and to go in particular - they are too numerous for a short article.

A warning. Under the cut - a long text without pictures.
Warning 2. To be honest, the author did not suspect that these are not common truths. Therefore, do not expect to find something new in the text.

What is an atypical design and why is it needed?

"Think different"
Inscription on the wall of the psychiatric ward

To begin, briefly deal with vording, so that there is no misunderstanding. What is not a typical design:

1. This is not a beautiful concept, understandable only to the designer and his two friends: people use the design and it should stand out exactly what was done for them;
   
2. This is not necessarily a user-friendly design: the concept of convenience may conflict with the task. For example, if the task is branding, for which the user is required to keep the website, then finding them the necessary information immediately and then closing the page is a mistake, not a victory;
3. This is not a beautiful design: this is a design that is nice to see for users from Central Asia (and they do not necessarily have a taste).

What is an atypical design? This is a design created for a specific target audience in accordance with the capabilities and goals of a particular customer and exactly corresponding to the content created on the same principle (preferably by the same people).

The ultimate goal can vary - improving the image, sales, attracting customers ... In any case, speaking of the commercial segment, we can say that any goal is reduced to profit in one form or another. Everything else is its derivatives. It is on the basis of them that one should create a specific design, but one should never forget about generalization.

Before you begin, or that you do not exactly need

"Fiddler - not needed"
One metalhead

1) Opinion of the customer (or "big boss"). Yes, this is the most difficult. Many beginners are used to the fact that the customer controls almost every stage of the development of the site design. And customers are also accustomed to this. One problem - the customer is often not a professional in the field of sales. Moreover - he does not understand the Internet at the right level.

Your task is to explain that the design is exactly the same tool as, say, a drill or a jackhammer, only designed to affect the mind of the audience. How to hammer a specific wall to achieve the desired result is determined by a specialist. The task of the customer is to explain that he wants from this wall in general, and to provide all the information about the available resources.

You can reassure the customer so that at the final stage he will be given several design options. What he can discuss, what he wants to change within their framework - and he will be told whether this is possible or not;

2) Your ideas about beauty. Taste is not absolute. Your opinion most likely does not coincide with the opinion of the target audience of the future site, if only you yourself do not belong to it. You may have to do terrible things - just to make the user comfortable. Humble yourselves;

3) Your guesses about the target audience, its tastes and ideas. Guessing is nothing. You will need the facts, otherwise you will be like that customer from the first point - and your design will not shoot;

4) And yet - in the early stages of the work you do not need professional software. Only browser, text editor and folder for screenshots.

Primary analysis

“In Russia, at least one prominent businessman, politician and voivode is sitting in every kitchen in one person”
A certain politician, businessman and strategist in one person

So, it's time to try yourself in an unusual role - marketer. You don’t mention all the recipes in one article, even the main ones - and then ... The author refers to the literature on psychology, statistics and, in fact, marketing, who want to learn all the necessary actions. Here we list a few techniques, making an impression about which you can argue and select new methods on your own by analogy.

First, the designer should knock out one simple answer from the customer - what is the purpose of the site? Branding, sales, attraction of a new clientele, retention of the old? Most likely the customer will say: "everything and more." Explain that “master of everything is master of nothing”. This, of course, is not always the case, but in most cases creating a multidisciplinary site requires the efforts of a cohesive, unified team, including a designer, a coder, and a copywriter (moreover, it is desirable that everyone has skills in all three areas), who understands marketing, and a huge budget.

The second. The designer must know what he can count on. Does the customer have visual material and in what quantity and quality? What kind of content they are going to publish on the site and how often (by the way, this issue should be solved “in conjunction” with the content writer - otherwise cancer, swan and pike will come out). What is the customer in general, what are his strengths and weaknesses as a company (for example, is it possible to emphasize the producing country in the design of the site of the company selling consumer goods)?

Third. We turn to the analysis of the market. It is necessary to find the most popular sites on the subject and with a similar purpose both in RuNet and in foreign segments. Compare their design. Perhaps some factors in the design have a positive effect on Central Asia. The task of the designer - to notice the common features and trends that are not on the sites of "normal". A good option would be to analyze sites with a significant number of negative reviews about the work of the company - such reviews mean that the site, and not the company, is working to attract clients.

Attention! Not necessarily foreign solutions rolled for the Russian-speaking user. They can push away.

Notice also all the inconvenience, irrationality, and what is missing on these sites. It may come in handy.

Fourth. It is necessary to assess the target audience. For starters, it's good to find profile forums / communities and boil them for at least a few days. What to look for:

• The lexicon will indicate the general intellectual level and psychological profile of the audience, as well as pleasant usage of words (this is useful to the author of the content!);
• graphic materials, their character, frequency and reaction to them, will make it possible to draw some conclusions about how much the text / graphics priorities of Central Asia are shifted, as well as what color schemes, concepts of drawing pictures and topics are pleasing to the audience; what are its “artistic tastes”, so to speak;
• The interface of the most popular communities will tell you how complicated the interface for this Central Asia can be at all - however, keep in mind that many forums live “by inertia” at the expense of the community since the web 1.0, so they are not indicative;
• draw conclusions based on indirect data. Central Asian sentimental and “from the stove” will most likely be prone to kitsch of a completely specific nature. For a teenage audience, aggressiveness and pont are more precious than money - and so on;
• Pay attention to the criticism of sites on the subject, similar to yours, by representatives of Central Asia. Who knows, if not them?
• Try to notice whether Central Asia has a love for, relatively speaking, “ryushchechkam”, wow factor - for example, Central Asia with such a syndrome will have a very positive attitude to moving elements, sliders and carousels in the design, while “stern men” can and do not understand.

The fifth. It is necessary to understand the target audience complexes - and how you can play them. The simplest example is Central Asia "fat people." An inferiority complex in all fields. How do we play it? You have to understand how fat people treat their complex, how they want to see themselves and how it will be combined with the character of the site. It is clear that many would like to see themselves as athletes, a sort of Russian warriors.

But if your site will specialize, say, on clothes for them, use the images of these very heroes in design elements - once again reopen the Central Asian wound, reminding them of their inconsistency with the image. But the cheerful and respectable john-bully, the Churchill-like gentleman is the most important thing.

It may seem to the reader that with fat people it is easy, but what are the complexes of normal people? Remember - everyone except the holy elders have complexes, and they are not sure of their holiness.

Any woman wants to be loved and attractive. Any man is smart and strong. The builder is to be the Creator, not Ravshan, the buyer is “always right,” and not a sucker, “not a freeloader, but a partner,” remember?

This is a very important task. You need to read special literature, learn to empathize, feel part of Central Asia - and at the same time look at it from the outside. But if you learn this, the design elements you create will actually be more effective than the text of the site itself.

Penetrating target, again pay attention to competitors. What is wrong with them from this point of view?

The sixth. Scanning search queries on the same Yandex.Direct will give a greater idea of ​​the desires and aspirations of Central Asia. Example - looking for the most useful product (the one that the client produces), tasty or natural? Which of the competitors are the customer looking for and what of these three factors is the famous competitor product? Is it possible to say what the majority is looking for, about the customer's product?

How to use it? For example, a picture background can create a completely different impression. Further reasoning on this topic, the author will leave the reader.

We will end the first stage - although the possible actions on it are still dark, the reader must have caught the essence. Go to the next step.

What to do: reasoning and tools

“If a person is beaten on the head for a long time, something will certainly work out”
Rake

So, you coped with the first stage and were alone with a set of seemingly unnecessary and erratic data. How to turn them into design?

First, decide (along with who will create the texts) what exactly the purpose of the site is in the arrangement for you. This will determine both the visitor’s path through the site and your actions.

Branding means - to delay the site, show the maximum, be remembered, but not zadolbat - that is, interest. Increase sales - to give the opportunity to find the product and place an order for a minimum of clicks. To attract to the offline store or provoke a phone call - show on one page everything you need, motivate at a glance. And so on and so forth…

Having decided on this, make a verbal portrait of the visitor, his expectations, which you realized in the first stage. Compare with customer information. Think about the shortcomings of competitors and try to figure out how to create a design without them. Think what you can do for such a budget. Compare with the purpose of the site.

The region of intersection of these sets is your task.

True, most likely it will come out somewhat vague, and ideas - contradictory. At this stage there are several tools. If the budget allows them to use - you are lucky.

1) Create a few small promotional sites in accordance with different ideas. Simple, without wide functionality and content. Use contextual advertising. Look at user behavior;

2) The previous paragraph is too expensive. The solution is simpler: try to find someone you know that corresponds to Central Asia. If the attitude to the design is normal - approx. Then - not appropriate. If the reaction is negative, you did everything right;

3) At the stage of editing after the layout of the site can help scripts that track user behavior on the page. Now there are quite complex systems that allow you to track almost the position of the cursor. Pay attention to where on the page click the most often - it is quite possible, this zone is visible in the best way and there it is necessary to thrust the most important links and buttons.

In any case, creating a design, remember a few general rules:

1) According to British scholars, palm tellers and horsemen, most people are visuals. Ergo, the pictures beat the text. Abstracts beat the walls of the text. This is true for any audience;

2) Try to get into the skin of the visitor - you worked on it, right? Proceed from this, even when constructing information-carrying elements. For example, builders and warriors - guys specific. Clarity forms, accuracy - this is for them. “Vanilla” girls, on the contrary, like rounded corners, fawn tones ... And so on;

3) Do not neglect the wow factor, if only Central Asia allows it. Something conspicuous, paying attention to what you need - and not found among competitors - is worth a lot. This may be, for example, a slider with a rare visual effect or some other unfamiliar way to win the interest of the visitor;

4) In most cases, the visitor is not interested in the face of the director, photo of the company building or something else. He wonders what kind of service he will be provided. Remember the site of Google - all of the case. Ergo, on the site of a medical clinic, on the pages of a photo of doctors is less useful than, say, a photo of some beautifully glowing, but harmless “scientific thing”. However, if we are talking about a surgeon or a dentist, a harmless (!) Physiognomy may be beneficial;

5) I repeat, because it was already said at the beginning of the article: do not overdo it with originality, the interface should be clear;

6) If you have completed all of the above and the design is still typical, try again to browse the competing sites from the point of view of Central Asia. Surely there is some point that hinders and which can be replaced, improved, and even create something new. The moment characteristic of a particular company, city, time of year, task, target, you only need to catch it.

Conclusion

"Built-built ... not built"
Motto road workers

This article, as you have noticed, is not a manual. The manual would not have got here - there are so many nuances, specific methods of collecting information, its types ... The author suggests considering the article as a set of certain patterns of thinking. Developing them, you will be able to understand how to create a design, based on the requirements of Central Asia, and not to offer Central Asia solutions not originally intended for it.

It seems to the author that it would be important to note the inevitable conclusion from this article - everyone working on the site should act together if a truly effective result is needed. The option “the designer sends the picture to the typesetter, he types and spreads, the girl secretary stuffs some info inside” does not work if it is necessary to achieve a really high-quality result.

I hope that the information was useful to someone.