Would you trust these tools and calculators?
I often tell people that a good-looking site is also a more usable site. My reasoning goes like this: a major factor in usability is trust. If you don’t trust a site, you’re less likely to use it. In other words, ugly visual design is similar to an overly-complex layout: it prevents people from progressing through the site.
Take the example above: this is the tools and calculators page on Geico’s website. While these tools are very useful, I had to scratch my head at first. Could these tools be reliable, when they look like this? The fact that the site is presented to me by Geico gives me confidence, but if this were the site of a firm which I was unfamiliar with, I’d be much less likely to trust it, and therefore I’d probably take my business elsewhere.
Essentially the same type of content; does it seem more usable?
People sometimes like to remind me that Craigslist is a bit ugly, and it’s very usable. But if you really consider it, Craigslist’s design is just bare bones; beyond that, the design is very clear and functional. In fact, the simplicity of the design is useful and appropriate for a search site. But would I trust my money with a financial institution whose site looked like Cragislist? Probably not.
While design is not everything, it is something, and it shouldn’t be overlooked.
