Lately all of the Web Design forums have been pretty heavily laden with “Rate my design” posts showing off vibe-coded websites or questions like: “How do I work around burning credits for every small edit? I can’t do SEO because basic edits cost too many tokens!” And of course, AI doomer posts like “Look what Claude just did, are we cooked fam?” Which admittedly gets tiresome after awhile, but is also very relevant to the huge shift AI is making in the tech world, so I get it.
That’s besides the point though. I could filibuster on AI, but I won’t because today I want to talk about a topic that came up amidst all of the AI-centric posts that I found genuinely interesting: Do Ugly Websites Give a Business More Credibility?
Hot. Take.
And this was coming from a younger generation of design thinkers (presumably), because the original post mentioned something about selecting a college/university if they have an ugly website. Something like: “Bro, pick a school with an ugly website. They don’t have time to try to make it look good. They just are good.”
The example the post pointed out? Harvard.edu. The post deemed Harvard’s website “ugly,” but they don’t have to try to make it look good because, well, they’re Harvard. Their reputation speaks for itself. This sparked a really interesting conversation about how people select services and companies online to actually give their money to.
The “Instagram Web Design” Problem
If you search on Instagram, a lot of the trending Web Design examples are really just eye-catching videos with lots of scroll-triggered animations controlling the flow. And they constantly get a similar set of critiques from web professionals:
- “This looks like a nightmare for the dev.” (The devs I know could certainly handle making such a site but yeah, they’d probably hate it.)
- “What about SEO?” How does a site with 4 sentences in a giant font stand a chance at earning organic search leads? (Devil’s advocate here, maybe all their marketing is through LinkedIn or word of mouth 🤷♀️ Also in case you didn’t hear already, SEO is dead /s.)
- “The UX is abysmal. I can’t find the information I need.”
- “Why does a logistics company need a 3D-rendered truck spinning around every time I scroll down anyway?”
For the record, I really enjoy an artfully crafted website with interesting GSAP animations, and I don’t mind scroll hijacking either. But I do think there’s a very specific time and place for these types of sites. It needs to be the right audience and industry. And even after that, it’s easy to go overboard.
Where This Type of Design Actually Works
Places where I’ve seen this work well?
- Product design
- SaaS
- Crypto
- Web3
- Super high-end luxury brands
- And more recently… satellites
A couple of my favorite examples:
- https://www.reflectorbital.com/ (I really like this one)
- https://www.spinlaunch.com/
- https://www.m3design.com/
What I like about these sites is that they all use interesting animations and have that “trending Instagram” look we all love, but they still make it easy to find information and I don’t have any major questions like: “What do these guys do?” “Where can I find out more?”
Even better, I don’t struggle with lag. Although I have yet to check them on mobile while I’m out on an adventure with crap service.
When Beautiful Design Starts Hurting UX
But then I think about other websites I frequent with more buy intent and purpose. For example, if I went to TheArmyPainter.com and had to scroll through a video, a bunch of cards animating in, and whatever other fancy scroll effects are trending that week just to get to my buying options, I’d probably bounce. And not just in the slang version of the word. In the much more intimidating web design Google Analytics version of the word.
Other places I’d be put off by this type of design:
- Any government agency
- My kids’ school
- Pretty much any serious e-commerce store
And to be honest, I can’t really think of a “beautiful” website that actually convinced me to buy something. Reviews, pictures from verified customers, and specs do the heavy lifting in my personal buying psychology.
My Personal Rules of Thumb for Trendy Websites
So what’s the point of this discussion? First, this brings us to my personal rules of thumb for a trendy site:
- The Drunk Test: A little UX gem that sounds humorous but is actually a good metric. Basically: can a drunk person use this website and get what they need? If not, maybe it’s time to tone it down a bit and focus on the “boring” and “ugly” fundamentals.
- Performance Matters More Than People Think: If the scroll interruptions cause enough issues that the site feels laggy, it’s time to scale back. That’s one of the biggest ways you can lose trust with your site visitors.
- Know Your Audience Before Building Anything: Lastly and possibly most importantly, before building ANYTHING, you need to know your target audience and understand how they interact with the web and for what purpose. A mom looking for replacement diaper pail bags? Probably doesn’t need a flashy site. Someone looking for specific computer parts on NewEgg? Probably doesn’t need a flashy site. Someone interested in investing in next-generation satellite technology? Okay, now those high-value editorial videos and images are starting to carry some weight.
So… Do Ugly Websites Build More Trust?
And yet these are all fairly extreme examples. What about small businesses? Services and contractors, restaurants, estheticians, the businesses serving the local community? Do ugly websites build more trust? Like I say so often in web design, the answer is: IT DEPENDS.
I believe there’s a happy medium.
My personal favorite is blending sites that effortlessly sew together lots of different content and clean UX while adding tasteful animations here or there, so long as it doesn’t break the three rules of thumb above. As for credibility? In my experience, the top ways a website kills trust and therefore doesn’t convert are:
- Poor performance
- Clunky UX
- Off-putting stock photography or AI-generated graphics (Especially here in Humboldt. I’ve seen direct increases in event sign-ups on websites with pictures of local people versus the super highly polished pics from Adobe Stock.)
Personally I think the real benchmark of trustworthy web design isn’t necessarily “uglier” websites or “prettier” websites. It’s simply websites that feel honest and keep the user in mind, instead of being built for applause from other designers or whipped together quickly just to get something online fast. The goal should always be a website that understands who its for and what people actually came there to do in the first place.
