Website Design - Creating Worlds Versus Creating Websites
Website Design – How to Create Worlds: When you hear the phrase “creating worlds” you may get a grand idea or vision of something mystical, and hard to achieve.
But the truth is, when you are thinking about creating a world instead of just building a website, you can break a website design down into a few finer categories. This will help you truly design a masterful website.
First - Understsand the Goal of Your Web Design
When you “create a website” usually the goal is to show people your products and services. And this is how most people approach their website.
But in 2023 and 2024, showcasing what you have is insufficient. Modern website design should achieve one of two very specific goals.
Goal #1: Create a website design that your customers SEE themselves in.
Goal #2: Create a website design your customers WANT to see themselves in.
Goal #1: Create a Web Design Your Customers See Themselves In
Website Design – How to Create Worlds: To create a website design your customers can “see” themselves in, you first have to know your customer. I mean REALLY know them.
This is going to take some marketing research on your part, but if you don’t know who your customer is, then there is now way you can “create a world” they want to see themselves in. You simply can’t do it.
It is important for you to understand that people repeatedly visit the same “neighborhoods” on the internet. If your website doesn’t “look like their regular neighborhoods” then they aren’t going to stay because your website doesn’t “look like them.”
Every human wants to feel accepted, feel at home, and feel comfortable. Make sure everything on your website screams at them “welcome home, this is where you belong.”
Again, there is no way for you to pull that off unless you know your customers. But once you understand who your customer is, then the rest of your web design project should be entirely dedicated to:
Making sure your logo, branding, colors, images, videos, fonts, and content are 100% aligned with your customers likes, dislikes, values, habits, hobbies, friends, family, region, and more.
Remember, if person comes to your website, and they don’t “see themselves” fitting in there, you have failed that person, and they will search elsewhere to find a more suitable provider who understands them.
Goal #2: Make Them "Want" to See Themselves in Your Website Design
Website Design – How to Create Worlds: Your customer might not “know” about your product or service, so they might not be able to see themselves in your world yet, because they have never been there before.
This brings up Website Design Goal #2: If your customer can’t “see” themselves in your website, then the next best thing is to make them “want” to see themselves there.
What does this mean. I think this is illustrated well by a website we designed for our friends at Nomad Inc .
You may have never snowboarded or been yachting in Croatia, but everyone who visits the Nomad sight says the same thing, “Wow, that makes me want to go to Croatia!”
This is what we mean when we say, make them “want” to see themselves in your world. The key word is: Want.
Design your website so that the world you create is a world that creates a visceral desire in them to want to be where you are, see what you see, feel what you feel, experience what you are experiencing.
Create a world, and then let people “peek” through the windows at it on your website, and make sure that whatever you show them, makes them want to swap places with the people they see there in a real and powerful way.
Create Worlds - Not Websites
At Stay Wild Digital we tell people, “we don’t build websites, we create worlds.”
This is our goal. Anyone can build a website by sticking some photos, colors, and words on pages. And to be fair, this way of doing things is great when you are just starting out in business and on a strict budget.
But even then, if you use our guidelines here, and imagine your ideal customer, and then make sure that your website at least “looks” like other websites you imagine they visit, this is going to produce a much better result than simply throwing words, pictures, and colors on the page.
But as your business gets going, and you want it to grow, your website needs to give your customers a place to hang out that is comfortable to them; and if you aren’t doing that, then you need to make sure that you are creating a world that is so “desirous” that your visitors want you to take them there, and the sooner the better!
You might be thinking this is an esoteric lesson on Website Design, but it isn’t esoteric at all. It is 100% functional for your business. These guidelines apply to Medical Schools, Vacation sites, and E-commerce websites. Every website we build is built with this ideal in mind – to make sure the visitor knows they are “in their neighborhood” or to show them a “neighborhood” they desperately wish to see themselves in as soon as possible.
About the Authors
Stay Wild Digital Marketing is a full-service marketing agency headquartered in Salt Lake City Utah. We provide World Design rather than web design. We offer everything from media production to marketing research focus groups, branding, content writing, and more. Everything you need to succeed online – we provide to you in one place.
