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UX Personalities- Kristina Halvorson

This week I had the option to do some research on different personalities and important people who throughout their careers have been helping shape the User Experience world and their people. I decided to learn more about one of them, her name is Kristina Halvorson, a content strategist known for her talks and conferences about the topic and being a coauthor of the book Content Strategy for the Web. 

 For Halvorson, content strategy guides planning for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content. Now, why is it important in UX? Because a good and useful content along with a good user experience leads to good business results. I read an article called Why Content Reigns Supreme in UX Design from fastcodesign.com where they listed various reasons of the importance of content, saying: 

1. Design may impress, but content hooks users- Implying that both concepts goes hand to hand. 

 2. Content plays the greatest role in interaction design- It's the conversation between your site and users, helping drive the users to take the actions you want them to take. Saying that a carefully crafted content will create a positive, almost human exchange with your user. 

 3. Content shapes the design- Content would be the product and design is the packaging. 

 4. Content-first is mobile friendly- Content-first approach is essential for determining your breakpoints when it comes to responsive design. 

So, Halvorson recommends UX professionals that when you begin to think about a user experience project, you should have a content strategist by your side or in the team, who has a clear eye to useful, usable, persuasive content. That person should be there during research and discovery, analysis, and design.

Magaly Cardona

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The Shape of UX to Come

For this week's blog post, I was assigned the task of researching people or things that have shaped (or are currently shaping) the world of user experience design. We were to choose from a list of four examples and decide to research one or a few of the options given to us. I chose to focus on a designer, Jeff Gothelf, and a popular Web resource, UX Matters.

When beginning my research on Jeff Gothelf, I first went through the normal routes of discovering information by simply Googling him. I found information through his website, LinkedIn, and other various channels. At one point, I decided to look up videos on YouTube. I found one that helped quickly break down Jeff's main practices in a nutshell. Jeff is the godfather of the 'Lean UX' methodology. Hearing what he had to say--along with the thoughts of numerous professionals--made what he was talking about all the more enticing. In the video they said that Lean UX is the general practice that pushes for people to work more collaboratively, iteratively, and quickly. They stressed the need for a culture of continuous learning while maintaining the function of team empowerment. In essence, it's about working together, iterating, and building something you can be proud of. This is something that drew me in and made me all the more curious. In another video, Jeff prepared a speech that went through his life and what got him to the foundation of Lean UX. He began by telling stories of his life before he was a designer. It was interesting to find out that he spent a few years traveling in a circus. This may be a stretch for my situation, but I found inspiration in his story. The fact that we all come from these unique backgrounds is ultimately what impacts our world view. That was something that almost comforted me and made me cherish my own personal perspective.

The other choice I made was to focus on something entirely different. I chose to research the popular online resource, UX Matters. This was something that I was aware of, but didn't fully dive into until now. I found it to be a significant online tool, not only for professionals in the field, but also people like me that are just entering the business (or even people outside of the spectrum). UX Matters was launched in 2005, and the site has dedicated itself to consistently providing a broad range of compelling content related to the field. It's a platform where leading experts (or, in this case, authors) can offer a plethora of insights that help teach the best practices while also offering the chance to look forward into the future of the UX community. I was surprised to find a broad list of different topics (organized quite well, I might add), but also a comprehensive list of terms related to the field. For someone like me, this was something that I wished I explored sooner. One important tidbit is the site's mission statement. It's an all encompassing manifesto to what they strive to do, and why UX does, in fact, matter. Being close to the end of my stay at General Assembly, this helped put a bold stamp on why I picked to choose this route in my life. I believe that this reinforced why I strive to be a user experience designer and why, well...UX matters. -Matt Toman

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8:07PM: Capture photos that are out of this world.

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PORTFOLISM

PORTFOLISM is the study of... NAH! Just kidding. But really, why is designing a portfolio difficult to even us, designers? We know, us people, like to talk about ourselves or showcase and be proud of what we can do with our own hands or digital tools and let others know that we can be the best in a certain skill, but when it's time to put our portfolio together we start to freak out. It's hard to design one's own portfolio for various reasons: - Our own judgement sometimes get in the way - Being a perfectionist - Being indecisive of what we want to show for potential hiring managers - Our need to be professional but trying to show personality to stand out and be anything but boring. - And like that interview question some of us fear, "tell me about yourself?" so you start questioning your own humanity, well, this feeling can, sometimes, make you question about your own portfolio. I recommend designers to plan and gather your ideas. If you can design your portfolio on paper first, the better. Also to have your content ready before starting to design your website. Sketches and wireframes can help you decide and stick to your plan throughout the process. Magaly Cardona ❤️

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Designing Your Portfolio

This is my first ever digital portfolio and I had a lot of fun making it. Even the difficult parts like thinking I wasted time trying to code from scratch was a great learning experience for me in using templates for the first time. 

The biggest problem I have in general is telling the story using a keyboard. The need to edit, and re-edit, edit again then delete that word that may or may not work for a particular employer that I’m really interested in working with, then re-re-re-re-re-re edit because that employers half cousin was someone I worked with at a restaurant and I had to discipline them. 

I paraphrase Martin Luther King; Judge me not by the typeface of my case study, but the content of my potential as a designer! Something like that. But we ARE designers, so the design of my portfolio HAS to speak to the content of my design character. That’s what’s difficult.

When I did furniture and other woodworking I had a physical portfolio, I flipped pages and was there to speak to my design features. Here, I have to design something and send it away in hopes it passes without me being there for talking points. It’s easy to sit here and nit pick every part of my portfolio, but I just can’t. Lets make it great without being annoying or hyperbolic about my skills (or lack thereof) and hopefully it starts a conversation. If it starts that conversation then I’m in my wheelhouse. 

In summary, it’s hard to design a portfolio for yourself because you have to let it talk for you at jobs you might really want. People will throw away a portfolio because you didn’t use a specific typeface and you just have to sit at home with your 4th cup of coffee and think “Well, that sucks”. 99 people told me this was the right way, the job that pays 90K for junior designers thought it was the wrong way.  So to remedy this fear, we micro-manage everything that goes on our portfolio over and over, ad nauseam, and even if I think it can be considered disingenuous to who we are as designers, that’s part of the game. 

-Ryan B

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Who Am I?

Building a portfolio can be difficult. It can be a struggle trying to decide the information you want to include because you want to convey an accurate depiction of yourself and your accomplishments. Trying to figure out what to include and what to omit is art unto itself. But really, what's at stake here is the process of defining 'you'. So, who are you? What defines you? What's at your essence? Arriving at these conclusions to who you are as a person is a challenge. Drawing parallels between you and a color, for instance, is a small piece of the puzzle, but these things help inform others and, sometimes, can speak louder than words. That's why I believe that everything in your portfolio should feel like a deliberate action, and that further demonstrates why it can be difficult to design one's own portfolio.

When discussing the process, I encountered setbacks in relation to style over substance. Our top priority over the two weeks was to focus on a case study. I had moments where I was doing things that could've been put off for later. I wanted to create something that told my story, but also wasn't an eyesore. While I did tackle some of these visual design elements, my priorities shifted about halfway through. At that point, I was able to devote a large part of my time to further development of the case study. Diving in, I first attempted to try and gather all of the processes that took place over the course of my project. Sitting in front of the list, I tried to edit and organize everything as best I could. The problems involved here are mainly in reference to deciding what to put in and how much to put in. My partner and I mostly worked in conjunction with each other through the course of the project. Because of this, pinpointing my roles and the information within proved to be quite the head scratcher. I had to look back on notes throughout the project (or the lack thereof in reference to each and every research/design decision) and decide what felt right. I believe that I came to the right decisions in the end, but that's definitely something that I'm more aware of in this current project that I'm working on now. Documenting and highlighting each stage (or each day) is a crucial component to adding it all up. After much work, I had my information (text/visuals/etc.) drafted up. While I'm still currently editing this case study after the fact, I realized the abundance of information at play. Cutting this stuff down is what will help my case study breathe--yes, my case study is suffocating at the moment. Don’t worry, it’s chill, bro :)

After going through this process, getting notes, and seeing the portfolios and subsequent feedback from my classmates, I feel that I have a better grasp of what one must accomplish when designing a portfolio. I've encountered this particular sensation at the end of each stage of every process throughout this entire course, which is a great thing, right? Like I’ve said in previous blog posts, all I need to do is implement the things I've learned and strive to push forward... Forever ever, forever ever. -Matt Toman

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Design: The Final Frontier

Portfolios are the final frontier of a UX student’s life work. These are the voyages of my design portfolio. My 10-week mission is design new products and boldly go where no designer has gone before. Or at least so I think!

A question that I always ask is how one person, with one brilliant idea has created a masterpiece that has molded overtime, but is still a work of art. 

The first struggle was trying to create a portfolio that is both unique and able to express my strengths is the largest hurdle to accomplish while masking areas that need to be continuously improved upon. Secondly, trying to create a portfolio with a structure that can work for each portfolio piece is critical as well. While my portfolio is not going to be a masterpiece for a while that will stand the test of time, it will evolve into one and hopefully one day I will be able to have products that I designed that were my own brilliant designs that I would feel passionate about.

The second struggle was the attempt to advertise the portfolio and for whom I want to work for also contributed to the struggle of crafting the portfolio. This is where my weaker area of visual design and understanding why if it is important or not. From what I have gathered is people care about the meat of my design and why I designed it this way and not why my page looks pretty. 

I strongly believe in the KISS method and strived to create my portfolio that way for now. Eventually it will evolve like Star Trek has evolved over the time, but the foundation will always remain the same. 

Live Long and Design

-Trevor

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Why is it so difficult to put together your own UX portfolio?

It seems so simple – one should be able to think be able to arrange their own portfolio pretty easily – the work is all done, all you have to do is explain the way you think…

While Freud continues to laugh (yes, that’s his laughing face) posthumously at the though of someone understanding the way they think, there is merit in his inevitable chuckle.  As someone who was spent the better part of three weeks trying to get one case study for my portfolio in working order, the psychology of the UX resume struggle is real.

In the end, we’re all perfectionist projectionists, we all want to put our best foot forward and we all want to show clients and employers how we blend science and art to come up with meaningful solutions.  But Frued’s funny little truth will always prevail to some degree: we don’t really know how we think.  Our thought process is a blending of rational, instinct with a dash of the subconscious, which we stir and mix vigorously to come up with some special sauce… we hope. 

Erik V

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UX is not just one way or the highway

After completing half-way through my UXDI collaborative experience, it has become more apparent in the operational world I came from is full of good and yet some bad experiences. The biggest instance that come to mind are normally the bad experiences. It was not because the people were bad at their jobs or didn’t love the product they were selling. It was bad because of how the company decided to not be collaborative with developers or even thinking that User Design existed.

The world of operations needs to collaborate with developers and not have the mindset of going one way or the highway. A company I used to work for has been operating for many years, their software design from a UX perspective is very bloated and aesthetically horrifying. However, because there are few products out there that perform the same set of services many organizations have to eat this “software”. Additionally, the management team has directed developers and consultants on what is best, rather than consulting with true UX designers to help resolve some of their problems and building a better product.

I am not sure where the software would be if the organization decided to start at a point with UX in mind. It might be better, the products image might be more well respected in some circles or sales might increase. However, that is all management stuff. How does that help the UX and his cohort that helped him on this project? Well, it helps them brag about it on their portfolio and if they knew the operational side, they could make a strong point that their design kept the company being solvent rather than being bankrupt in 5 years.  Thus, UX developers and the team he or she collaborates with can possibly make or break a company’s success of a product/service depending on the scope of the project that they are given. Regardless of how big or small a company is or if this is a company’s number 1 product versus the number 100th product, every team decision matters. I know there are many bad experiences like this that are out there and only wish that more would care about the user and would want to develop better products.

-Trevor

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Hands On Collaboration

Collaboration amongst UX team members is necessary in the design industry to achieve great results. Team members with different perspectives and fresh ideas is beneficial to the product design process, however sometimes a novice designer can get attached to their ideas which can make it hard for them to change it when improvement is required. I learned that in a team there must be room for different opinions, ego must be checked at the door and one must listen and be flexible with everyones ideas. Good design takes time and effort, as also understanding how your team works as individuals. Some of the UX design tips I learned during the past two weeks are: • Listen carefully to what your client needs and wants. • Be intuitive and try to anticipate or understand their needs when they don’t know what those needs are. • Practice good communication with your design team members every time you can. • Take small breaks from the design tools. • Use paper, whiteboards, or the walls! (make sure these are erasable), these are the best mediums to use when brainstorming new ideas before getting right into the digital design. • When feeling stuck in the design process, get everyone on board and try doing Design Studio to help developing ideas and get the team motivated. • And last but not least, getting feedback from others is that cherry on top of the ice cream cone for designers, so encourage feedback, and don’t be afraid to ask for it, because it will make you a better UX designer. Magaly Cardona

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Collaborate Good Times, COME ON!

There is certain context to have here when discussing this experience because it was largely an experiment. What happens when we put people in groups knowing we did so because we think they’re different, and lets give them a big project and a small deadline! 

This project was entirely necessary even if it was difficult. We got to be a part of a team for the first time and we got to have opinions and ideas about a subject we were brand new to 3 weeks ago. It’s to no surprise that conflict is normal here. What did I learn from the conflict? We have a client and we need to provide, so put differences aside and get the job done. To this end I was very happy with our final product. 

One frustrating part of this two week project was that I didn’t get to reinforce as much of what I learned as I wanted nor did I get to practice things we were currently learning such as sketch. I’m not sure that is normal in a group design process. A lot of groups seemed to do the same thing; “Oh you’re good at this part of UX? Do that!” style of dividing responsibilities. I felt that was unfortunate. I wanted to take as much opportunity to stretch my legs and get out of my comfort zone. If I could do it again I would try to explain to the group that our ability to work as a group, as equal parts to get to the final product is as much of the learning experience as creating the product itself. I didn’t quite understand that until it was a little too late. 

Did I learn? Hell yes! There’s a lot to learn from people who do things differently from you. I’m too young in this profession to think I have all the right answers. Learning and growing from conflict is very important. In the end, when we all decided to let our guards down and realize we have to do this as a team, we buckled down and presented something I ended up liking very much. 

I have a friend who is the only UX designer for her company, and I can’t imagine she can come up with as rich data that a group of UX’ers can come up with on a consistent basis. 

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The Art of Collaboration

What have you been learning about effectively collaborating with other UX designers?

I’ve encountered many different forms of collaboration through the course of my life. Whether it was through a project in school or playing music with other people, adapting to a situation and trying to get everyone on a similar wavelength is an interesting task to endure. Through my experience, I would say that the most important elements to consider would pertain to being willing and open to share ideas freely and to not take it personally if someone has a thought process that deviates from your own. There is, of course, a certain kind of etiquette that’s involved when trying to communicate ideas, but, over time, these things become a little clearer. In a situation dealing with designers, it may be hard for people to not take certain criticisms personally. It’s almost as if you’re sharing a part of your soul. There will always be different group dynamics from project to project, but I like to believe that people share the same drive—to present the best ideas so we can work towards the best results we can possibly get.

In my experience with the most recent project, I got paired with someone that has views and life experiences that are completely different from my own. Indeed, that’s something that makes the process a lot more interesting, right? I suspected that this particular project would be a lot more difficult compared to the individual ones. Sure, making decisions and determining a course of action is something that can definitely be difficult, but I believe that this is the one project that I'm going to value the most in the long run because it taught me so many things about myself and how to work with others. It felt like it was easy to identify my strengths and weaknesses. Those things seemed to float up to the surface.

While the situation with my partner was actually a fun and rewarding experience, I realize that it won't be the same every time. In a UX scenario, collaboration is absolutely essential. With this project, I realized things related to knowing how to adapt to a situation, knowing when to engage (to lead, follow, or just sit back and listen--although I personally hope to be able to lead more in future projects), and figuring out how to effectively present ideas. Obviously, time management still plays a huge role in the process. I think that goes without saying, but its importance continues to loom over me throughout this course. In the end, figuring out how to correctly gauge each situation to push forward and end up with something that holds ground is vital to the skills we pick up as designers...and I absolutely strive to continue to do so. -Matt Toman

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Iron Bends

Working with people is messy business. You can stick to a surface-level relationship with many people in your life, but in some ways those relationships are like stereotypes: They aren't wrong, but they're incomplete.

This is the start of my second primarily "creative" career. It's funny how quickly I've forgotten the passion-fueled, tense, iron-sharpening relations between smart people working to build something together. The possessive attachment to your ideas (which may have only existed for a few seconds) can derail you and your team so easily. Don't place that infant idea ahead of those of your colleagues’ -- or worse, ahead of your relationship with your colleagues.

The past two weeks were intense for my team, and for all teams in my cohort. Lots of very visible debate. Lots of head-to-head frustration. In the end it paid off and I was very proud of our design and presentation, but the work would’ve been much easier had we taken time to learn how our personalities and techniques differed, so we could adapt and speak to them. More personally, I learned to let ideas bloom more freely early on in the process, and to cede more control to my colleagues when appropriate.

It takes time and energy and mutual trust to do good work together. It also takes humility. I was humbled last week, and I hope to be humbled again soon. It keeps you listening. Listening might feel like bending to another's will or ideas; it is. And that's good.

For iron to sharpen iron, both have to bend a little.

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Be progressive!, Be! Be! Progressive!!

Transitioning from an outdated website to a more trend oriented one takes courage. It’s very exciting wanting your website to feel fresh and have that sense that you’re going to be part of this modern digital world again. But when this idea gets going on this dramatic change, they start sweating the struggle of the updates, they realize they need new content, new pictures and to get rid of that outdated wallpaper background from the 18th century, which is making the logo camouflage on the corner. 

Change is never easy but when its done right it’s very rewarding. So, let’s see! E-commerce? Whoo! You get to their whole inventory, then you start thinking, should I hurt my eyes and waste my time looking for a product opposed to going to the physical store? Phew! Thank goodness there are a lot of design trends nowadays we can look for inspiration when designing a website. 

Responsive design- If your website is not responsive, how can you retain the user’s attention, especially when they’re on their mobile phone most of the time

Video backgrounds and large pictures- I found this trend very appealing and aesthetically attractive. Users want to see more that what they read and its so beautiful when what they see can tell a story on its own without exhausting the eyes. Plus, this trend tries to make the user feel that the company has a human side and it helps when building a customer’s trust.

Card-like layouts- Another beautiful trend when it’s done right. Although, be aware that this trend is not for every website. It tries to be clutter-free but it can also hide important content that may be useful for the user.

Yes, yes, yes, yes!!!

-Magaly Cardona

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Carousels and Hamburgers

Nothing like a blog post that’s 4 days late... :/

The SHOULDs:

1. Strong Copy and CTAS - Good design has to be communicative. So use strong copy to tell your users WHY they should choose you. Paint them a clear picture. Tell them what it is that you provide, what the benefits are, and what they should do next (CTA). Because conversions depend on it!

2. Active Feedback - In the words of Don (UX Jesus), “feedback is someway of letting you know that the system is working on your request. It’s communicating the results of an action”. When someone adds an item to their cart, they need some sort of feedback that confirms the action. A number that pops up next to your cart icon, a flyout that pops up on the top of your screen. Something that lets the user know this is what has been done. (immediate and informative)

3. Intuitive Global Navigation - Unfortunately users get lost in designs all the time. They accidentally click on the wrong link and are taken to another page with no clear indication of return. Using global navigation in addition to “breadcrumbs”, helps the user locate where they are and how to get where they want to be.  :)

The SHOULD NOTs:

1. Don’t contradict existing mental models - Stick to understandable copy and global iconography. This isn’t time to reinvent the wheel or try something new. Because violating people’s mental models decreases their understanding of how a system works and forces them to exert more effort to complete desired task. Thus adding to cognitive load #2...

2. Don’t increase cognitive load - Plain and simple, don’t overload the user with too much information (especially if they are a new user). If you can, avoid unnecessary elements, minimize choices, and leverage existing design patterns.

3. Don’t hide important features (stole this one from Eric, my bad) - Progressive disclosure can declutter your design but it can also add unwanted depth to your design. Forcing your users to click one level deeper to find the information they want, expending more energy to complete their task.

Joshua McKenzie

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UXicorns Invade E-Commerce Shop Scaring Yokels into the Future

The headline says it all… ok, maybe not: We all know UXicorns don’t really exist.  And, if they once did, then they were probably hunted to extinction by the very Yokels they were trying to help.  But the point is, sometimes you need a flashy headline to talk about something rather drab: E-Commerce sites.  Specifically, what will E-Commerce sites look like in the future? Boring as it may be, it’s something every UXicorn needs to know… if UXicorns existed, that is.

The “Toolification” of E-Commerce

One likely possibility is that all mobile and website e-commerce content (which may be displayed on something beyond a computer or a smart phone in the near future) will be paired with whatever the customer needs most in relation to his or her reason for accessing the E-Commerce app or site.   If, for example, a DIYer contacts a hardware store app – he/she will be able to place an order, while the mobile app simultaneously helps with the specific DIY project currently being undertaken (and maybe selling a few additional items along the way).  Conversely, if a building contractor needs to place one of his 5 “regular” orders and send it to one of his 7 current job sights, he’ll be able to do it in 3 clicks using that same hardware store app.  In both cases, they wouldn’t have to search for the “DIY” section or the “Repeat Previous Order” function. The primary purpose of the app or site would be the precise purpose for which it is most needed based on who is using it.  It’s more than a fleeting possibility that our interaction with e-commerce sights (and many other things for that matter) will be as much a tool to help us accomplish our goals, as they are a resource where we can buy what we need to accomplish those same goals.  If it didn’t allude to a different truth, I’d call it “the toolification of e-commerce”.  In less dramatic terms, it’s just another step further along the “user-centrification” road.

 The Interactive Carousel: A Bridge to Greater User-Centrification?

As we move even further from “something that helps us” toward “something that does exactly what we need,” an Interactive Carousel seems like a solid candidate to help guide the transition without being too big-brother about it all.  For all readers, especially non-techies that made it this far into a particularly term-heavy blog post (without slamming the laptop shut and grumbling that the author/snob probably has a permanently extended pinky), the Interactive Carousel deserves defining: an Interactive Carousel is a window in an app or on a site the caters to the specific needs of the user, and changes depending on who is using the product or what the task at hand is.  For the building contractor, in the above example, who would like to place similar orders to various locations, the Interactive Carousel on his homepage would offer a Quick-Order function that allows him to do so in the most efficient way.  The DIYer’s Interactive Carousel, on the other hand, would feature an arsenal of options to help with the latest bathroom remodel… it really was an ugly brown color.  The point here is, introducing an Interactive Carousel has two major advantages:

1)   It allows the most used functions on an established product to be preserved- (or phased out gradually) as new innovations take hold

2)   It allows for specific innovations in E-Commerce (or innovations in other products) to be tested or implemented without  betting the farm

By making this window more prominent in successive iterations, we may be able to gradually, but fundamentally, help websites and apps change from a single tool with a simple purpose into customized experience where several tasks are accomplished simultaneously and seamlessly – yet with minimal input necessary from the user.  The Interactive Carousel may not be the star-wars-esque “force” responsible for the groundbreaking transition, but then again, something will be and it may help fuel that something…

 Erik V

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Web Design and Automobiles: e-commerce sites need a shared starting line

This past week I was tasked with designing a hardware store e-commerce website. In researching the designs of existing shopping sites and working on this one, a question kept nagging my brain tissue:

Why am I reinventing the wheel?

E-commerce sites emerged from primordial goo soon after the dawn of the internet. They've been around awhile. People shop online. It's a thing, and it has been for like two decades. Within such an established site genre, why are we still figuring out from scratch how a shopping cart should work? Why do I sometimes have to break out my Boy Scout orienteering skills every time I land in a shopping site? Carts and bags and favorites and wish lists and starred items and lions and bears and oh my head.

That said...

Conformity is no fun

Sites like Squarespace help bring standardization to the established e-commerce space. They've got sharp, legible templates that can be set up quickly, directly by the merchant.

That's really great for individual shops, but big-time retailers need more. Most good shopping is a purposeful experience. As certain product types have become commoditized, the *experience* of buying them is often one of the biggest differentiating factors between competitors.

Innovation happens when people branch out from what's established, and it's how things get better. Cookie-cutter shopping sites are no more fun than cookie-cutter homes.

A car looks like a car

We don't have to reinvent the wheel every time we make a shopping site. Case in point: Automobiles. A car looks like a car. It's got four wheels, a windshield, a steering wheel (for now at least), doors, and a motor. Even new, revolutionary stuff like Google's self-driving space pods and Tesla's electric-only hot rods clearly resemble cars. It's a common design language.

We can be both efficient and inventive. Let's start from the same place, and innovate from there.

Someone, somewhere, for the sake of our sanity: Do some heavyweight usability analysis on all major types of e-commerce sites and recommend to the world the ideal template for the pages, layout, and flow of an e-commerce website. Designers, opt to start from that consistent experience, and innovate from it. Eventually the template would likely need innovating, which is good too. But getting consistent basics will redirect the user brainpower needed to figure out your site into figuring out which thingy they want most.

Let's get users eyes off of your website's interface, and onto the content and products you've got to sell them.

— Robert Boler

Image credits:

http://dieswaytoofast.blogspot.com/2013/08/maheshs-twentyfirst-law-mature.html

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1703526/cut-out-the-cookie-cutter-developments

https://www.infovisual.info/05/006_en.html