What Does The “Unique Website” Mean?
People are striving to have unique websites because they have a need for being not like everybody else on the internet or maybe they influenced by myths. In the website industry exist two extremes in development regarding copypaste issues: on the one side, totally plagiarized websites, and on the other side, all the resources are thrown to create something special and unique that the world has not seen before. Do we have to say that extremes are always not healthy? Let’s see why.
Swiping someone’s design
First things first, copyright does not allow to beg someone’s design. And let’s be honest, from the ethical point of view, it is not that cool either. But we have a bit more proves why it is not fine.
Back in school days, try to recall the guy who always cheated on the exam from another guy. Do you remember what grades they got after? Yeah, the same. And no matter A+ or C. Well, the design story is the same. When someone is swiping one’s website design, he is swiping all its flaws: usability bugs, content structure errors, and unsuccessful marketing solutions. Now the client has a spitting image website with all that sack of “gifts”. All just because he or she forgot that the real purpose of the website is to solve particular business problems.
And here is the thing, if the competition has a website for a long time, it does not mean that the website works well. Tons of businesses make a website just because… because. And that is it. There are even more businesses that are just happy having what they got not realizing what the “good professional website” is. If someone copying the website they like, the whole sense of developing their own website is far-far away from the real purpose.
Absolute uniqueness is a utopian dream
In 2020 absolutely unique website is impossible to create. Why? Because since 20th, December 1990, when CERN made the first website, there have been made more than 1,7 bln (1,700,000,000) websites. If someone will bringing up a designer in an isolated environment for some time and then give him a task to make a website, it will not be unique anyway. Law of Large Numbers says that.
If an absolutely unique design would be possible, either way, the specific features of the design profession would block pure creativity: designers look through lots of works to follow the trends. Just like everything in our reality, the designers’ taste shapes through all the information they have seen before.
Why uniqueness is not always good?
Dear reader, if you are older than 3, you probably remember this heartbreaking moment when your favorite newly invented flavor of potato chips was removed from the market. Well, that is what happens when society does not understand brand new things. If a website is not understandable for most people, it leads to a crash. It just not “sell” well what is supposed to “sell”. Thinking of your future website, it is better to remember that proven things work quite well speaking of the structure and navigation of the website.
No doubt that the Internet is young, but it also caught some set in stone rules of browsing through the websites. Lots of things on the website we got used to having come from our environment. You could probably remember iPhone OS 1 icons which were created on the skeuomorph principle or magnifying glass in the search panel of almost every website. People are so familiar with the websites that tons of things they do are intuitive: clicking on the navigation menu panel at the top, scrolling down, etc. If the designer or developer will create something that evokes cognitive dissonance, it will cause frustration and disorientation. Quests better to be in the Quest Room, not on the websites.
Extraordinariness or unusualness is great in art-websites where the shape is more important than the content, or for the hot top of the most unusual websites. Your website must be totally understandable for the target market.
How to make a website the right way?
If you have decided to create a website, you probably want to improve your special business features. Only this purpose already excluding blind copying of the website of competition because every business has its own “soul”. Copying or creating an ultra-unique website is not the right way to start.
First, the website starts with setting the goals you want to achieve. The customer and performer have to select proper instruments for achieving these goals. Now, you do not have to be afraid of getting a looking alike or unique website because the main purpose is clear — you pursuing your own business goal.
Wrapping up. Let the Requirements Specification reflect your business needs and goals, and not just contain information about website uniqueness or its looking alike idea. Set the tasks your website must solve and do not focus on the false aim.
Are you looking for a professional lightning-fast website?
Don’t hesitate to send us a note at hello@unikorns.work or visit our website: www.unikorns.work
