There are six things bad websites have in common. A cluttered layout, hidden navigation menu, lack of color contrast, non-responsive design, and inconsistent typefaces are a few hallmarks of bad website design. Still, the main issue with sites with poor design is a lack of user-centricity.
Visitors come to your website to make a purchase, learn about your product, sign up for a newsletter, or apply for a job. Bad website design is likely to blame if they have difficulty accomplishing any of these tasks. Bad usability websites could cause significant frustration and even mean your visitors will exit quickly.
But, how can you tell if your website suffers from poor design? Website engagement metrics, like average time on page and bounce rate, can provide insights into user centricity by telling you where your visitors tend to go on your website, for how long, how often, and where the source they came from. You can use this information to get a better understanding of what your website’s user experience is like.
Consider implementing user testing if you want a more in-depth site design analysis. Completing this will help you gather actionable insights into obstacles visitors face on your site. Then, you can implement changes based on what you’ve learned.
Fortunately, there are plenty of user testing tools available to help. For instance, HubSpot’s Website Grader will evaluate your website based on several factors, including mobile, design, performance, SEO, and security, and then offers tailored suggestions for improvement.
Another way to get a sense of what bad website design looks like is by checking out some examples. So let’s look at some website designs below and explain what went wrong
Examples of Bad Website Design
- ZARA
- Unconventional navigation
- Wayfair
- Lack of visual hierarchy
- eBay
- Complex product pages
- Lipton
- Low-resolution images
- Madewell
- Unclear mobile navigation
- Paper Source
- Outdated design
- The Room
- Lack of credibility
- IMDb
- Cluttered layout
- Fandango
- No clear CTAs
- Yahoo!
- Whitespace
- CNN
- Slow load time
- The Daily Mail
- Too many ads
- Yale School of Art
- Inconsistency
- NYU
- Color
- University of Louisiana
- Complex drop-down navigation
- Craigslist
- Non-responsive design
- Hacker News
- Readability issues
- New Century Chamber Orchestra
- Inconsistent branding
- ODC/Dance
- Accessibility issues
