Need Help Please - When is the right time to redesign your website?

[swillicott]

Hi All,

I have recently blogged about the possibility of redesigning our website and I am looking for some feedback on the current site (what you like and what you hate) and suggestions for the redesign.

All my thoughts are outlined in the blog article and I really need some help with some critiques of the current site - the blog post is called 'When is the right time to redesign your website?' and can be found here

Toon has already been kind enough to leave a couple of comments but I would love some more comments and feedback!

Thanks for your help and for reading the post.

Steve

[karen]

Interesting post, if I could put this in though. I feel graphic/web designers spend way too much time on redesigning their own sites, I know we're a picky bunch but I just keep reading people redesigning again and again.

[D856C]

Most companies redesign when they get tired of their own site. Wrong.

When should you redesign? One intriguing idea is ....never. Read the article Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign

-- Realign when you have better data about users. How about observing users as they attempt to complete a task? You'd think otherwise but there's no law against conducting user testing.

-- Realign when your world view changes. Like the insight of Search optimization, not search engine optimization

-- Realign when you have developed a coherent new content strategy

-- Realign with a major shift in market realities or positioning changes

You'll get bored a lot quicker than users will. And users like consistency far more than many designers imagine.

[swillicott]

Hi and thanks for your replies.

Karen,

Totally agree! However, my current dilemma is not over whether to re-brand but more to incorporate the blog into the main site. I also have an issue with using Flash for the main part of the site. We did this originally to advertise flash design as a service and to use the site as a bit of an example. However, 18 months on we get very little flash work so I think the SEO thing is now more important and as such a html site might be better suited?

D856C,

Very interesting. I love the concept of realigning instead of redesigning. I will certainly bare that in mind.

Karen and D856C - would you mind if I added your comments to the blog post as i would like to get a bit of a discussion going and feel other readers could benefit from your comments?

Thanks

Steve

[D856C]

...would you mind if I added your comments to the blog post

Fine by me.

[zumojuice]

just added this:

I think a website should be a reflection of two things:

Where you're at as a designer - something that showcases your work in the best form for that work. If you're print, the form should be simple and portfolio in nature, If it's web, it should practice what it preaches
and validate/seo etc...

The needs of your audience. Do they need another designer or by shifting your work into a different sphere, can you indicate your point of difference? In terms of form, do you visitors stay on the current site, where do they go. The best form of strategy will lots of web things is trials. Try something out, even if its on a linked in 'new page' and get feedback.

Take facebook - the new design is a massively new step forward, but many are unsure because they are so used to the previous version BUT this new version if perfectly fitting for the audience...