For a while I’ve thought websites are like the clothes you wear. I used to think the clothes to website analogy was just something my quirky head thought of, but I was wrong. One of our clients recently said the same thing. Once I regained my composure, we chatted a bit about it and I realized websites really are like the clothes you wear!
Websites Are Personal:
I’m a very OCD person so I like websites to be clean and white. I’m also confident and independent, so I like the color red. My clothing tends to be white, black, tan, and red. See a trend here? I’m basic when it comes to clothing and I’ll opt for comfort over style any day of the week. With websites I’ll chose function and persona alignment well before I head for flash and bling. But that’s me and that’s what works for my personality. It won’t work for everyone.
I’m an opinionated person and while I openly share my opinion, I do caution people on how they interpret it. For many people, their website is as personal to them as the clothes they wear.
Each has his/her own style and each wants something different. You can’t make thirty attorney’s dress the same and I can’t design a website that makes thirty lawyers giddy. In the end we designed a site that worked for the masses and tried to stay conservative enough so that everyone could be relatively happy.
What’s Inside Your Closet?
In person you can see people’s reaction to a horrific outfit, but on the internet your visitors come and go and you’ll never even know they were a blimp on your Analytics report. Worse yet, you may not know that dancing gif from 1995 is what is driving them away.
Think about one piece of clothing that you’ve kept for what seems like forever, while still knowing that is better off sent to Goodwill or burned in the summer campfire. You have one right? We all do. I have a walk in closet, so I know I have at least a few.
