“Summary: Although successful websites typically have high usability, average sites can hurt their business by copying design elements that don’t work well in other contexts.”
“Should You Copy a Famous Site’s Design?”
Nielsen Norman Group, August 22, 2010
Strategy
By Jakob Nielsen
When faced with a design quandary, bosses are often inclined to say, “why don’t we just copy X?” where X is some high-profile, successful website. There’s something to be said for this strategy; presumably, Site X is doing something right, since they’re so big and famous.
Furthermore, users prefer well-established designs that follow conventions and work as expected. For example, having a search box in the upper right corner increases the usability of your search simply because this is what users are accustomed to using in the location where they expect to find it. (See our eyetracking research for more examples of where people tend to look for various design elements.)
But copying successful designs is not a foolproof way to improve your own site’s business value. Indeed, this strategy has many pitfalls.
(Note: When I say “copy,” I don’t mean that in a literal sense — that is, I’m not advocating copyright violations or design theft. Rather, I’m assuming that once you’ve considered the pitfalls and decided to go with a feature or design that’s similar to a big site’s, you’ll create a new site that’s inspired by that site’s example. If you fear that your copy is too close to the original, consult a lawyer, but if you feel the need to do that you’re probably already going too far.)
Want the latest in your Inbox from the Nielsen Norman Group? Sign up for their weekly newsletter. Always short insightful and useful. (No they didn’t pay me to say that nor include this link. It’s simply that I find it very useful and informative and want to share it at-large.)
Alertbox E-Mail Newsletter – “The latest articles about interface usability, website design, and UX research from the Nielsen Norman Group. You will receive one brief email every week containing summaries of our latest articles and information about upcoming events and research.“
