Chorus America recently turned a website design presentation Drew McManus did at their recent conference into an article on their site.
I have been reading Drew’s advice on webpage design for decades. I have attended a few of his conference sessions as well. But there is always something you forget or loose focus on in the interim so I eagerly read this piece.
Drew’s overall thesis was that many arts organization websites have been designed to please and serve the insiders at the organization rather than provide the answers new visitors are coming to the website to find.
Drew says every page has one job – to move a visitor toward at least one of three things – revenue, engagement, and leads. If each page isn’t helping to achieve that, it isn’t working for the organization.
He says there are a few reasons why websites fail at this job.
The first is the Curse of Knowledge. The instant you learned where everything lives on your site, your brain erased what it felt like not to know….Your first-time visitor may not know that “Ensemble” means “About Us.” They don’t know the ticket link lives under “Events,” not “Performances.”
The second is Survivorship Bias. You usually hear from the patrons who bought tickets. You rarely hear from the ones who tried and gave up. They don’t fill out your post-concert survey. They rarely send a frustrated email. Most just disappear quietly….
Other impediments have to do with design elements. Drew notes that buttons signal importance of the content to which they link. Button and link design needs to align with the visitor’s expectation about what they will find after clicking.
Primary solid button: This is the action to take. High contrast. Impossible to miss.
Outlined button: This is an option. Available but not urgent.
Text link: This is here if you want it. Low priority. Also handy for duplicating primary links.
Button placement also matters. Drew observes that organizations often bury important buttons for ticket purchases at the end of massive blocks of text. Same with date and time. They should first be available before descriptions, not after.
Similarly, he notes that use of image carousels at the top of webpages works against visitor intent to find specific information. Instead, he suggests a hero section:
Try replacing the carousel with a hero section: a full-width band at the top of your homepage that combines one strong image, one headline, and one button. This communicates a stronger, clearer message with fewer competing elements, which is the entire job of your homepage hero. The image should show your ensemble doing what they do best, performing, and the remaining content should be minimal and focused on moving the visitor toward one specific conversion goal.
Drew also covers other topics in his article including effective vs. weak labels for buttons and mobile first design. Not to mention going into these subjects to a deeper degree than my excerpts and summaries.
