Our digital lives have never been richer or more all-consuming – and that offers both challenge and opportunity for brands. We asked some of the best digital agencies in the world whether brands still need websites, and how to think about digital products in a time of scrolling-induced fatigue.
In 1991, when Tim Berners-Lee published the first ever website he probably had no idea what he was unleashing on the world. As of now, that website has more than a billion descendants – some sell us things, some tell us things and some simply float in a huge realm of weird and wonderful digital ephemera.
The internet, as an entity, has changed massively in the last three decades – and the role of the website and other digital products has evolved alongside that. Some argue that the 90s and early 2000s were more ambitious in terms of digital creation, while others claim we’re in the best possible time: the tools to create websites have never been more accessible, there’s more channels than ever, and transactions happen at lightning speed.
But where do brands stand in all of this? Do people want, or need, brand websites? How much room is there for creativity in digital products, when convenience and tiny dopamine hits have become the ultimate goal? And what does truly great digital design look like now?
WHAT’S A WEBSITE FOR?
With all these questions in mind, we started out by asking the AUFI agency network: what do brands need a website for?
"The question isn’t whether brands need a website and digital presence,” says Alexandre Bommelaer, Managing Director at AREA 17, which has led digital projects for Saint Laurent, Getty, and The New York Times. “The real question is: what does your business need? Are you focused on a local, low-key presence driven by word-of-mouth? Or do you have a narrative you want to own and share to the world in your own way? It comes down to your brand strategy and to the business outcomes you want to achieve. Some businesses need utilitarian websites and tools to better serve their users, while others need to share their stories through immersive and inspirational experiences to build solid brand equity.”
“If brands aren’t thinking of digital right at the heart of things, then that is a massive problem.”
Helen Fuchs, Executive Design Director, ustwo
“There’s places where the website is part of a full-court press, an all-out coordinated effort, appealing to super-large enterprise customers that have tons of problems,” says Cameron Koczon, Founder of Fictive Kin – which counts OpenDoor, National Geographic and Ogilvy among their clients. “Folks like that need to use the website actively. For D2C brands it’s a really great part of a larger company and market strategy, and it’s a serious tool. That’s the equivalent of your best salesperson, and one of your largest brand points.”
And Helen Fuchs, Executive Design Director at ustwo – the name behind digital products for Peloton, LEGO Foundation and Jaguar Land Rover – told us: “That thing we’ve got in our pockets, our phone, is what we’re checking in on multiple times a day or week. That relationship with the brand, and that immediacy, is so important and such a part of the brand world. If brands aren’t thinking of digital right at the heart of things, then that is a massive problem.”
THE UNIQUE CHALLENGE OF DIGITAL DESIGN
“It’s like trying to understand a Marvin Gaye song by looking at a picture of him and reading some of his lyrics.”
Cameron Koczon, Founder, Fictive Kin
While digital interactions dominate our lives, digital design is a paradox. Apps and websites need to be fast and convenient, but still enjoyable to use. They need to make sense and feel familiar, but not so much that they look like everything else. And they need to persuade the user to stay and play, without locking people in using deceptive or unethical patterns.
Layered on top of all that is the fact that digital products live in a state of perma-flux. As Koczon puts it: “Think of a product, like Facebook, as a river. It's constantly changing. Your experience only reflects where it is at that moment. It doesn't necessarily have any connection to where it started or where it was a year ago."
While other commercial creative disciplines, like branding or advertising, have long and relatively well-documented histories, digital product design is frustratingly ephemeral. “Almost all product design is gone,” says Koczon. “Maybe you can find a screenshot, but that doesn't tell you anything about the experience or the context. It’s like trying to understand a Marvin Gaye song by looking at a picture of him and reading some of his lyrics.
“Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy, and you’re standing on the corpses of a bunch of giants that are all dead.”
IT’S IN THE TINY MOMENTS
This means that a lot of digital product design has become standardised and systematised, and while websites, pages and apps can be put together quicker than ever, it’s arguably sucked some of the soul out of the digital world.
“Everything starts to feel the same,” says Fuchs. You go on a lot of websites and the brand expression has been taken out. Digital brand expression has to live in smaller and smaller moments.
“So it’s making sure, even in a highly componentised space, that you’re allowing that expression to live. It’s finding that amazing mix of highly rational optimisation alongside this wonderful, expressive, creative brand-building. Good product design partners should be able to marry the two.”
BRING BACK THE FRICTION
“Friction is the bouncer at the door to get the right people in and keep the wrong ones out.”
Cameron Koczon, Founder, Fictive Kin
One way to counteract this lack of digital brand expression is to go against perceived wisdom.
Major global successes like TikTok and Instagram seem to know what users want, but as Koczon emphasises, these are built to capture an enormous, general audience. “These are powerful products and algorithms that no human being can really defend against. And then companies use that manipulation as validation for what people want,” he says. “But is that really what they want when they lay down on their pillow at night? Generally speaking, people want to experience something great. Something that brings them joy.”
That joy might come from something that lots of digital products have designed out: friction. The ease of online shopping might be fast and convenient, but is there room in there to slow our interactions down and add more content or storytelling, however tiny?
“Look at video games,” Koczon continues. “Video games are very aesthetically pleasing, narrative-driven friction. If there’s no friction, there’s no game. And it’s a huge business that people will gladly spend tons of their time on.
“If you introduce friction, you’re opening yourself up to some people not liking it. But if you’re willing to appeal to a subset of humanity, friction is the bouncer at the door to get the right people in and keep the wrong ones out.”
PLAN, ITERATE, AND DON’T VISUALISE TOO FAR
Beyond the creative considerations, no digital project can be a success without laying the groundwork first. Obviously that means finding the right creative partner, but it also requires brands to understand exactly what they’re doing and why, before embarking on anything.
"Design is strategy," says AREA 17’s Bommelaer. "We always ask our clients: why now? What problems are you trying to solve? What business outcome are you aiming for? Is it about reshaping your image? Introducing a new vision? Evolving the brand? Increasing revenue? Whatever the goal, your digital presence must serve it and respond to it."
According to ustwo’s Fuchs, once that’s pinned down brands need to start thinking more iteratively. While some projects might benefit from a “big bang approach”, she says, most will make better progress by starting lower down – which means looking at the smallest thing that can be shipped to start creating value.
And as tempting as it might be, Fictive Kin encourages clients to avoid visualising the end product. “You create a needless and very powerful barrier to the upfront experimentation that’s required to find something good,” says Koczon. “You’re going to evaluate everything through a lens of something that’s in your mind, and you’ll most likely get Steve Jobs syndrome where the whole thing becomes a testament to your great vision.”
CAPITAL D DESIGN IS COMING BACK
Digital design seems poised on the edge of a new era. All of the agencies we spoke with for this piece mentioned AI as a possible catalyst for an entirely new kind of digital experience – one that’s more responsive, more personalised, and potentially revolutionary.
“The future is about depth, not scale, and depth is the domain of the designer.”
Cameron Koczon, Founder, Fictive Kin
Our growing fatigue with social media might also, paradoxically, push brands into a new way of thinking strategically about digital design. "Social media’s fast-paced, ephemeral nature can lead to user fatigue, making it difficult for brands to build lasting connections with users. In contrast, a brand’s website provides a permanent space to deliver a cohesive and controlled brand story and create meaningful, long-term value for their audience," says Bommelaer.
“Capital D design is about to have its moment.” says Koczon, “The only question is whether designers and people who value design will take advantage of it. The history of technology is deeply rooted in engineering and engineering culture. Engineering was hard so engineering was exalted. Most CEOs that you can name are engineers. But we're entering an era where we won't be able to believe our own senses. Trust and true human connection will be essential currencies. The future is about depth, not scale, and depth is the domain of the designer.”
Image credits (in order of appearance): National Geographic by Fictive Kin; Saint Laurent by AREA 17; Green Portfolio by ustwo; Opendoor by Fictive Kin.
