Words: Caroline Petvin – Content Director
Category(s): Branding, Content
Date: 20th June 2023
If you’ve visited the website for any tech company recently, you may have encountered a strange sense of déjà vu. An impression that you’ve been there before. A nagging feeling that – even though you’re certain you only heard about it for the first time on the catch-up coffee call this morning – you’ve actually checked out this company or software before.
Well the chances are you haven’t. The truth is far more likely to be that all tech websites are starting to look (and feel) spookily similar.
You only need to scroll through a website like saaslandingpage.com to start to understand what we mean. Don’t get us wrong, there are some great websites featured on there, but (at the time of writing) repeating patterns in tech website design are loud and clear. Logo top left. Navigation across the top. A large headline. Text on the left, image on the right. Or – if the designer is feeling a little daring – everything centred down the page.
It appears a standard template for tech website design is stealthily emerging. A common view of how sites ‘should’ be laid out and structured, based on a series of modules or blocks. So what’s driving this standardisation, does it really matter, and what are the options for companies that might want to break the mould? Beneath content director Caroline Petvin sat down with designers Matt Roundell and Veronika Vrestalova to answer these questions.
Standardisation vs. optimisation
At a time when the “make it work, then it can look pretty” philosophy is applied to tech website design, usability is the main driver of standardisation. User experience (UX), accessibility, and responsive design are (and should) be primary considerations.
Assuming all these factors are being rigorously tested in the design phase, and the result is the most effective, efficient, accessible and responsive website possible, the trend for sites to look similar could be seen as a case of optimisation rather than standardisation.
But in reality, few businesses have the experience, the resources or even the inclination for rigorous accessibility and UX testing. This means designers don’t have the freedom to push the design and test to see what works. It’s far more likely they’ll play it safe and default to pathways they’ve used before, or pathways that others are currently using on the assumption that these are tried-and-tested.
From button sizes and typefaces to page layouts and contrast ratios, designers often take inspiration from other websites rather than reinventing the wheel. They’re a naturally curious bunch and, when they see something on a website that seems like a good solution, there are many ways to find out what it is and why it works. From ‘inspect’ modes on browsers to tools such as CSS Peeper, designers across the globe are dissecting websites to understand their creators’ methods and rationale.
This approach is totally understandable. It takes away question marks and variables. It’s more economical than testing totally new ideas. And it results in websites that tick all the functional boxes. But it does also mean ‘best practice’ for tech website design is starting to become something of a theme. Almost like a template you can download and implement to make your website look and feel just like everyone else’s.
Following trends because they’re genuinely effective for UX, accessibility or responsive design is one thing, but it’s very easy to slip into the territory of doing something just because everybody else is doing it.
So, why does it matter?
So what? You might quite justifiably ask. As long as visitors can navigate the website easily and find out everything they want to know about the product, who cares if the design isn’t particularly original?
Designers, of course, have good reasons to care. Standard expectations are stifling creativity and effectively decreasing the value of tech website design. It surely can’t be long before AI is just as capable of designing a cookie-cutter tech website as any human.
But from a business perspective there are also plenty of reasons not to get stuck in standard expectations. And those reasons are rooted in the core goals of the website – which are never simply to tick the UX boxes. To use a very old-school analogy, a website acts as an online shop front, enticing buyers in to find out more about the company’s products and services. If all the shop fronts along the software high street look the same, how will the buyer ever choose which one to explore?
A website is a vehicle to tell the brand story – the narrative that helps to explain what makes the product or service the right choice for a certain group of customers with particular needs. An effective website should engage visitors, deliver a memorable digital experience, and help differentiate the business from its competitors. It should make visitors want to watch the videos, to read the success stories, and to explore the products on offer. All the accessibility and responsiveness in the world won’t make a website perform unless its visitors actually want to interact with it. A visitor should land on your website and think “This is new. This is different. This is exactly what I need.”
As standardised design continues to homogenise tech websites, these goals become less and less achievable.
The path(s) forward for original tech website design
There seem to be three options available to tech brands that want to avoid their website looking just like everyone else’s.
Option one: Reject the status quo
Brands with sufficient resources have the option to explore, innovate, test, and then ultimately set new best practices outside of today’s standard structures.
At some point one of the leading tech brands (maybe Apple) is likely to take this approach, although it’s hard to predict when that will happen. It may be influenced by the need to adapt design for a new technology such as mixed reality, or a new type of device that hasn’t yet been released.
For the majority of tech brands this simply isn’t financially viable, which takes us on to option two.
Option two: Differentiate within the assets
The approach that the majority of tech brands are currently taking is to accept the common underlying framework but to use the content within standard blocks or modules to differentiate or express themselves. They might, for instance, apply a unique font or colour palette. Or use video, animations, or custom illustrations within modules rather than static stock imagery.
This is a solid approach that has a number of benefits. Standard modules don’t need much consideration from a UX or responsive design perspective so designers have more opportunity to experiment within their boundaries, and make those assets count. They can have fun with story-led design, and their visitors will still be able to navigate the site with their eyes closed.
But even with this approach websites can still start to feel pretty similar. Check out our post on B2B brand illustrations to see how adopting popular styles such as Corporate Memphis can make even brands with custom graphics look interchangeable. Pushing assets and visual design can only go so far, and tech brands can still end up looking very much the same, just with a different colour palette.
Option three: Break a few of the rules
Okay – so if we’re totally honest option three is just an extension of option two, but it requires tech brands to be a little bit braver, and to be willing to bend the rules in some shape or form. It means breaking best practice just enough to make the website distinctive, without negatively impacting usability.
The result might be sticking to the accepted structures and modules for 80% or even 90% of the website. Usability must always be a priority. But that last crucial piece – that final 10-20% – should push the boundaries, tell the brand story, and get its message across in a way that is totally unique to that brand.
A couple of examples of intrepid tech brands currently taking this more adventurous design route are Runway, a finance platform, and Cobbler, a business admin app for talent agencies. Their distinctive websites are a welcome step away from the norm and a refreshing reflection of their brands (note: they’re also both relatively new, so whether the originality is ‘optimised’ out of them by the time you read this post remains to be seen).
Pulling off option three will require not just creativity and a willingness to break rules, but the ability to collaborate across teams. Designers will need to work closely with copywriters, UX experts and web developers, with a high degree of back and forth, to ensure their vision can be effectively executed, in a way that doesn’t negatively impact usability.
This approach might not sound like a radical step away from the standard tech website design we see today. But if brands want to get their message heard, if they want first-time site visitors to feel like they’re on freshly broken ground, and if they want to deliver memorable experiences that make visitors want to explore what they have to offer, it will be more than enough to achieve those goals.
Are you ready to be a little braver with your tech website design? Get in touch to find out more.