The KISS principle requires to find a solution for a problem as easy as possible, especially if there are several possible solutions. The KISS principle was allegedly invented by Kelly Johnson, who worked as an engineer in a company for spy planes. Johnson was an advocate of the principle and stood for the fact that he liked to look for simple solutions to complicated problems that everyone understood.
This principle can also be transferred well to web design.
When less design is more
Although the Internet has been available to more and more people in recent years, many people have not yet become accustomed to using the Internet and thus the new media. Many are quite interested and would like to use the new medium for themselves, but do not really get along with browsers, emails & Co. In addition, there are the dangers that can occur through the Internet and therefore many are so frightened that they no longer want to use the new media for themselves. More and more new horror messages from hackers and pishing emails do the rest and quickly the user has little desire to expose himself to it.
If the user does it anyway and tries to use the possibilities that the Internet provides, he quickly reaches his limits on overloaded websites that are bursting with advertising. Also the still popular pop-ups, which incessantly prompt the user to enter his or her email address for a newsletter subscription do the rest. So it's not surprising to still hear, "Internet? That's not for me!".
And it could well be. If web designers adhere to a single design principle, users will stay much longer and be inclined to use website to participate and leave their email address: "Keep it simple and stupid" is the principle and means nothing else than that the website should be accessible to everyone - no matter which browser they use, whether they surf to the site from their mobile or computer and whether they are just looking for information or want to subscribe to the newsletter.
The more elaborate the design is and the more it confuses the user, the faster the user is inclined to visit another, perhaps similar website - after all, with the millions of websites on the Internet there is always an alternative.
Even Einstein knew the KISS principle
Einstein did not use the words Keep it simple (and) stupid at the time, but said that if you can't explain something, you don't understand it well enough yourself. And this is the basis of the KISS principle. If you own a website that is overloaded with traffic and don't know how to get to which page, but keep annoying your users with a pop-up, you can't navigate your own website or explain the purpose of your website to anyone.
So how can you redesign your website so that everyone can use it?
First of all, every web designer should be aware that the design of a website only supports the statement it should have. Therefore every web designer should first find out what his customer wants to achieve with his website. Does he want to inform his customers? Does he want to get them to contact him? Does he want them to subscribe to his newsletter? The website should be designed with this in mind. It is always best not to cover too many intentions at once. Thus, the site can basically aim to establish contact with the customer. A single landing page may, however, have the intention of obtaining the customer's email address in order to contact him again.
If you keep that in mind, whether you are the web designer or want to build a website for your business, it quickly becomes clear that it is not about covering the latest trend in web design. This can be a thing of the past tomorrow. Hopefully the content you provide will not. So if you first think about the purpose of your website and what content you need for it, the design usually comes naturally.
As soon as you can answer these questions, you already know whether you need a blog that you can fill with new information again and again, whether it makes sense to offer your customers a newsletter or whether it is enough to compile information about your offer.
Test KISS
Once your website is up and running, have friends or family check it out. You do not have to introduce them to the KISS principle. It is much more important that you get feedback from them about what your website stands for.
A good idea is to give your testers a short questionnaire:
1. can you immediately see what the website is about? If so, what is it about?
2. can you find your way around the website?
3. Find everything you were looking for? If not, what's wrong?
Of course you can extend the list of these questions as you wish. The important thing is that you should not ask too many questions. Nobody wants to get so intensively involved in a website that might not even interest him or her from the topic. The questions are more about gathering first impressions and seeing if your website really follows the KISS principle and if the user knows what it is about and where to find what information.
Conclusion
Often web designers and clients believe that the website must be much more extensive and beautiful than really necessary. After all, the client wants one thing: to find the information he needs. He is not interested in being distracted by the design with sliders, pop-ups, animations or the like. If the animation serves to understand something, it is of course welcome. However, if it only serves to make something "nicer" in the eyes of the web designer, it neither supports the KISS principle nor helps to guide the user through the site and to understand what the company offers. It is therefore important to determine exactly what purpose the website should serve before programming it. This is the only way to pick up your visitors and potential customers where you stand.
Only if you achieve this with the design of the website, you will support your customers in the best possible way.
So ask yourself again and again whether you have applied the KISS principle - as a designer and as a website owner. This is the only way to offer your users an optimal experience that does not prevent you from getting in touch with your offer.
