Ugly sells? Take a look at this post from Commission Networks (I couldn’t be bothered trying to find out who the person was, the site was too ugly for me and I couldn’t find an “aboutâ€). But it made me think.
I wonder if the Henry Ford “faster horses†statements can be made to apply to design. Is it possible that ugly sites are more attractive to the generations before M, because that’s what they’re used to? Brought up on green-screens and blue-screens-of-death anything looks beautiful. That generation loves looking at Excel screens on a BlackBerry, remember?
I wonder if I can extend that supposition. If a site is NOT ugly and yet IS popular, can I assume that it is used by Generation M?
Just thinking.
I agree with the idea of ugly (although I’d rather call them simple). http://www.southwest.com is a great example of a simple efficient web site. It can actually get you from finding your flight to booking it in under a minute. Try that with some other airlines web site..