Bye-Bye Golden Layout
The 'Old' FCON21 homepage. (Click thumbnail to enlarge!)
After recommending a site search function for each larger site in John's post, “Site Search Do you have one”, we finally have it implemented for ourselves.
But the one most major change is about colors.
Why?
We got feedback from some visitors and subscribers to our newsletter telling us, that they like the content, site layout, navigation, etc. …, but they are put off by the screaming orange font and the blue background. Many visitors just turned away, when they saw the colors without even talking to us. We know that from our traffic analysis. The sticky rate and return rate of customers was lower compared to those of other sites we operate for ourselves or for our clients.
No wonder that most Web sites nowadays use a white background and dark font. That's what people seem to prefer. That's what people are used, too. Most Web sites, especially those thought to be successful in economic terms, all have white background and dark font color.
Successful Internet marketers preach, “Model Success”, and usability guru Jakob Nielsen has stated his famous “Jakob's Law of the Web User Experience: ‘People spend more time on other people's Web sites than on yours’”.
Which should mean, “Give them something they are used to.”
At least, we gave it some try, even though we knew weeks ago, that we will change that. We could have gained more readers, if we did it earlier. It took us only a couple of hours to implement it. Redoing some graphics on Fcon21.biz was probably the most time consuming task. We tried to change Hue (color) and contrast only first, but weren't satisfied with the results. So we redid the graphics from scratch based on the vector drawings. Since the site's colors are pretty much in one CSS style sheet. It was not too much effort to change all of this.
Why did we start out with orange/blue?
It was based on a template, when the domain was parked. We just wanted to try something different. The orange/blue combination is thought to portrait wealth according to some articles about the psychology of colors. However, it did not work out for this or would not work out for any other Web site. White background for the core content is what people like.
When you take the time to read Joe Hallock's study (*) you will find that Orange is one of the least favorable colors perceived by female and males and all age groups. Besides that, Orange is associated with “cheap and inexpensive” to a very high degree.
You understand, we had to change that color.
Adios
John W. Furst
P.S.: Some resources about colors, psychology, and Web design.
- Background from dark blue to white
- Font color from orange to very dark blue, almost black
Why?
We got feedback from some visitors and subscribers to our newsletter telling us, that they like the content, site layout, navigation, etc. …, but they are put off by the screaming orange font and the blue background. Many visitors just turned away, when they saw the colors without even talking to us. We know that from our traffic analysis. The sticky rate and return rate of customers was lower compared to those of other sites we operate for ourselves or for our clients.
No wonder that most Web sites nowadays use a white background and dark font. That's what people seem to prefer. That's what people are used, too. Most Web sites, especially those thought to be successful in economic terms, all have white background and dark font color.
Successful Internet marketers preach, “Model Success”, and usability guru Jakob Nielsen has stated his famous “Jakob's Law of the Web User Experience: ‘People spend more time on other people's Web sites than on yours’”.
Which should mean, “Give them something they are used to.”
At least, we gave it some try, even though we knew weeks ago, that we will change that. We could have gained more readers, if we did it earlier. It took us only a couple of hours to implement it. Redoing some graphics on Fcon21.biz was probably the most time consuming task. We tried to change Hue (color) and contrast only first, but weren't satisfied with the results. So we redid the graphics from scratch based on the vector drawings. Since the site's colors are pretty much in one CSS style sheet. It was not too much effort to change all of this.
Why did we start out with orange/blue?
It was based on a template, when the domain was parked. We just wanted to try something different. The orange/blue combination is thought to portrait wealth according to some articles about the psychology of colors. However, it did not work out for this or would not work out for any other Web site. White background for the core content is what people like.
When you take the time to read Joe Hallock's study (*) you will find that Orange is one of the least favorable colors perceived by female and males and all age groups. Besides that, Orange is associated with “cheap and inexpensive” to a very high degree.
You understand, we had to change that color.
Adios
John W. Furst
P.S.: Some resources about colors, psychology, and Web design.
- Colour Assignment (↑) a study by Joel Hallock
- Color Scheme Generator 2 (↑)
Trackbacks
Joseph Mayers on : Orange And Blue Had To Be Replaced (Web Design)
Show preview
Did you ever wonder why most of the popular Web sites, blogs, and sales pages have a white background. The core message is always conveyed in dark foreground color. Simply speaking, “That’s what people want.” ...
E-Biz Small Talk on : Good-Bye Orange And Blue
Show preview
have upgraded the Orange/Blue color scheme on our E-Biz Booster Blog ...
Comments are closed.
However, if you want to tell me something, drop me a line. Contact Us link in the footer.
Comments
Display comments as Linear | Threaded
Walter on :
Much better! Thanks for acting on my complaints. The big bottons like QUICKSEARCH are kind of strong! Think about it.
Pat B. Doyle on :
I like the new look very much.