You Aren’t Google or Apple
I see lots of companies trying to copy the design of Google or Apple when designing their home page; and this is usually misguided. To understand why, you need to understand the factors behind their design.
On one end of the spectrum, some companies say to themselves “we want our site to look like Apple’s. A really compelling image about our product, with a short explanation right up front.” They expect to impress their customer this way, and while this can actually help, it’s best to evaluate your own customers, objectives, and offerings to be sure this approach is right. Here’s some of the factors behind the design of the Apple home page.
Apple
- Sexy product. The the product is really huge on the home page. Your product is probably not as sexy as Apple’s, so it probably doesn’t need to be as prominent. Can your customer really attach your product to their identity the way they can with an Apple product? Is this even feasible? Probably not, so there’s no way “large-image-plus-explanatory-copy” should take up as much space on your home page as it does on Apple’s.
- Physical product. The sexy Apple splash is a good lead-in to introductory information about the product. Their customers can watch videos about their products that further showcase their great design, while explaining features.
- Consumer audience. This is more about fashion than it is about saving money, or increasing Q4 revenue.
- Narrow objectives & interaction pool. Sure, Apple has lots of products, but they’re usually only going to be pushing a few at a time - whatever’s newest. And they pretty much want you to do one thing. Buy them.
On the other end of the spectrum are companies who want their home page to be more like Google. “Just really simple, with one interface element.” This clearly works well for Google, but here’s why:
- Familiar user task. When Google came on the scene, everyone already knew how to use a search engine. It needed no introduction. Just type and hit search.
- Repetitive use -> layering of interaction. many people use a search engine dozens of times a day, so this allows Google to “hide” many of its features. You know exactly what to do with the first time you use it, but over time you learn that you can use it to find movie showtimes ( movies 60614 ), convert units ( 300 inches in miles ), or search within a domain ( site:kadavy.net life hacks ). Though Google and Apple have drastically different home pages, here is where they are similar. Think of all of the functionality they cram into one little button on an iPod.
- Limited user flows. What do you go to Google for? To search. Not so much to browse, or to see what’s up with your friends, or to buy things. This simplicity is reflected in its appropriate interface.
Does this mean you can’t learn anything from Google or Apple when designing your home page? God no. You can learn plenty, as long as you think about the why, and not the what.
