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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: June 11, 2002 Monkey See Monkey Do (Design Interact) -- "While I’m not opposed to design trends, learning from others is how designers grow. I am concerned about the stagnation of style that I see on the Web. A large e-commerce portal will launch a stylized navigation system and almost immediately after, many other sites will copy the style exactly." (Comments: This is a tough subject. Copying is stupid, but doing things in the same way might not be stupid at all. For example, if every other site is doing X in your industry then you probably need to do X, or people might be confused or lose faith. They might wonder why you are not like other companies in your industry. The collective often determines the standards, unless there is one big fish in your industry.)
Reader Comments...
I think you had it right at "Monkey See Monkey Do." The design imperative which equates head-to-head (often mindless) imitation with competition. No guru recommends this. A thousand interesting variations on a theme, okay. Learn from others, yes. To mirror or copy is the first step in that process. It is not supposed to be the only step. Posted by: (the other)JS on June 12, 2002 10:21 AM
When I wanted to buy a new car a couple years ago, I was predisposed to buy Saturn because of their "no haggle" policy. I hate car salesmen. I hate walking onto a dealer lot. Saturn's TV commercials likened car buying to ordering a pizza for home delivery. That REALLY struck home with me. Then I researched cars online. Big mistake. Saturn had one of those unique Flash interfaces with Mystery Meat navigation (I think Vincent Flanders actually referenced the site once in an article, too). Because Saturn offered a site unlike any other car manufacturer, it was an infuriating process to compare car specs, etc. I did not buy Saturn specifically because of Saturn's crappy web site. I recall Saturn's slogan being "A different kind of car. A different kind of company." Their web site sure was different. We need more monkeys in this world. The more similar car sites are, the easier the buying experience is for the consumer. The same goes for most sites. For example, the U.S. Congress. When will the House and Senate web designers start talking to each other? Posted by: Jack on June 12, 2002 06:01 PM
"Ever wonder what happened to the wonderful days when you could find a site that was truly original." I don't wonder, they weren't wonderful, they weren't original. They were worse that what we have today... If you can't do good design yourself, copy what you think is good from others... Better yet, hire someone who can actually do good design... Posted by: Ron Zeno on June 12, 2002 06:25 PM
It's a mistake to do anything too wacky and original on most sites... but it's also a mistake to follow the herd and assume the 'big names' are doing things right. Most major sites are littered with bad design decisions arising from internal politics or complacency.
Thank you for the feed back on my article at design interact... yes, I agree with your comments... it's a hard thing... produce a unique design yet make it easy to use??... we do need consistency but not boredom...hmmm the struggle goes on.... Posted by: kevin airgid on June 17, 2002 03:33 PM
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