Edi Explains: How to Freshen Up a Stale Website
Posted by Edi Parkinson on Wed, Feb 15, 2012
We’ve all seen them – those websites that look like they were created in the 90s. What may surprise you is that many of those sites were built just a few years ago! Take Treats International, for example. Although their website was created five years ago (by us), that can be pretty old in Internet years, and it showed its age.
Treats Bakery and Coffee Shop is a Canadian company with stores across Canada and one of the few places I know that I can still get an old-fashioned, yummy oatmeal muffin!
While their goodies are always fresh, their website was stale.
As we completed their website redesign, we learned several ways to “freshen up” an out-of-date site.
Fresh Visuals
By making some design changes, the fresh new website looks just as yummy as their oatmeal muffin.
4 Ways to Visually Update a Website:
1. Create a bold and interactive design
2. Ensure a balance of white space to your content
3. Include large enticing photos
4. Use a simple, strong font with colour-coded theme for each sub section
Fresh Content
Sometimes your content determines your visuals and other times your visual determines your content.
In this case, we initially thought we needed a complete rewrite of the text since we wanted the site to be more engaging and even playful. However, once the visual redesign was complete, we realized the text only needed an edit to alter the tone appropriately.
We tweaked the content to freshen it and match it to the bold visuals. We regrouped menu sections and simplified lengthy and redundant sections. Since there is a large francophone population in Ottawa we also created a French version of the content, something the site had been missing.
The tone changed dramatically by influence of the new visual imagery and minor edits.
Fresh Navigation
Part of the goal was to come up with something different than the typical drop-down menu or navigation. Not only for the uniqueness factor, but also to give the viewer a bit of a surprise so they would engage and unconciously apply a bit more of their brain to what they were reading. We wanted viewers to easily see and understand what Treats had to offer. With a simple roll-over of the "drop-up" menu, you get a taste of all that Treats has to offer.
When designing your navigation, don’t be afraid to be unique and create a structure that fits with your brand and image. (As long as it is intuitive and helps people to navigate the website!)
By modifying the visuals, content and navigation, Treats' website reflects their current branding and products.
What other tips do you have for cooking up a fresh website?