Eight Media

A recent post on Scoble’s blog got my attention. Want to know the secret of Google, Craig’s list, MySpace and Marktplaats? Ugly Design.
Anti-marketing design as Scoble calls it.

Let’s take a look at a few ugly-but-succesful sites. Marktplaats.nl is a Dutch e-bay like site. It’s so freaking ugly, I even bothered to call them a couple of years ago to tell them that they really should do something about their design. Their response: ‘we really like our design, thank you’. A year later e-bay bought Marktplaats for € 225 million.

del.icio.us isn’t the prettiest babe out there as well. For me del.iciuo.us stands out as: ‘hey, this site really handy, but it really could have looked better’. Yahoo bought del.icio.us for a rumored $ 40 million.

I won’t even mention how much MySpace was bought for.

The Downside

I mean there’s got to be a downside? I know I get turned off by a companies website design and immediately exit.

But most people don’t. Until… a competitor comes and offers the same service with better design that not only enhances the look & feel but the usability as well. Or is that wishful thinking? Anyone have any good examples?

Newcomers

Ma.gnolia is a new kid on the block, a tagging-bookmarking site, Ã la del.icio.us.
It’s got way better design than del.icio.us and introduces social features like groups, but I can’t say that the usability has really been enhanced. (cluttered interface). So this is something that is happening right now, but not that good an example.

At this moment we’re working on a stealth project which really will blow competitors out of the water because the design is superior and the usability too. Or will it?

Are ugly sites here to stay and is that a good thing?