The Wright and wrong way to design your home page

A lot of us here at OSD are architecture buffs. I guess it comes with the territory when you have a building full of designers and developers. In my case, it started with a childhood fixation on Frank Lloyd Wright. As I’ve learned more about Wright, I’ve figured out it’s a good thing he designed houses instead of websites. Why? Because he did the one thing your website should never do: He hid the front door. On purpose.

The Wright way to design a house

If one home best represents Wright’s early design sensibilities, it’s the Robie House in Chicago. When you look at the house, you notice the strong horizontal lines and the vast porticos – but not the entrance. That was purposeful. Wright shifted the door to the side so people would slow down on approach and appreciate the home’s exterior rather than rush inside.

He used the same trick many years later on the home pictured here: Taliesen West in Scottsdale, Arizona. As I took this photo, I tried to frame up the water and the roofline and the skyline. I never noticed the door. (Hint: It’s behind that big boulder at the top of the steps).

So what does this have to do with web design? Everything.

The right way to design a website

When people come to your website, you want them to slow down and take it all in. But they want to find the front door – or whatever door delivers the information they want ASAP. As explained in our free e-book, 7 Steps to a Successful Website Redesign, 76% of consumers say the most important factor in website design is making it easy to find what they want.

So how do you design a site that makes users stay because they enjoy the view, not because they can’t find the door? Just follow these simple tips:

• Be normal – Logo in the top left corner, navigation bar at the top, contact information in the header or footer. There’s a reason websites do these things. People expect these things. When it comes to the web, unique = frustrating.
  
  
• Use clear terminology – Use the word or phrase they’re looking for. Bonus points if that phrase includes a verb. Call the link to your online store “buy [brand name] products.” Call the link to your donation site “donate.” Web users shouldn’t have to figure out your internal terms and euphemisms.
  
  
• Engage from top to bottom – As Michael Kritsch explained in his post about going below the fold last week, users are willing to scroll if you give them content worth scrolling for. Use the full length of your home page to guide people to the door they’re looking for. Add context around links. Use photos to give visual cues. Add videos that tell your story. Of course, you want to limit the number of calls to action you use. Too many choices are just too much for users to handle. But remember that you’re not limited to the space “above the fold.”

When it comes to designing web pages, the Wright way is the wrong way. Fortunately, there’s a sweet spot where beauty and functionality coexist on a home page. The key is to know what your users want to find and then open the door for them.

- Paige