Is your website DICEE enough? Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Empowering & Elegant web design.
22nd July 2013

This post has been inspired from an excellent article by Guy Kawasaki in which he about the DICEE concept.
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130719120914-2484700-10-ways-that-small-businesses-can-enchant-their-customers

DICEE stands for Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Empowering & Elegant. Although Guy uses it for product develop in general I see it very relevant to web design as well. Lets take a look at each element and see how it applies to your website

D - How deep is your website?

The latest updates by Google have ensured that the deepness of the content on your site now matters more than the backlinks and other traditional parameters of SEO. By deep I mean how much information is provided at a tier 2 or 3 level. Are you providing only superficial information or are you giving indepth information on your products and services.

I - Intelligent design and information layouts make a big difference to a visitor's satisfaction level.

There are many times I go onto some website or the other and have to search for information and waste precious minutes figuring out what is where. That is stupid design. Intelligent web design anticipates the visitors requirements and ensures that they are easily found. It makes sure that whatever the level of the visitor, place of origin or device used, he or she gets a good experience.

C - Ensure your website is Complete and up-to-date

Don't we all hate going to a website, finding information and then realizing its either out of date or incomplete? Your website should have the complete and latest information that is regularly updated. Somone has left the organization, make sure his/her name is removed from the site. Office address changes, update the site. Product/Service specs change, update on the site. Be complete so that the visitor gets a complete picture.

E - Empowering visitors to acheive their objectives

I hate visiting websites that don't share contact information, neither telephone nos. nor email address. Instead they have a standard form which we have to submit and wait for a response. This is simply disempowering your visitors who might want to get in touch with you immediately. There are a lot of other ways to empower visitors on the website through Live chat or FAQs or other tools. Treat the way prospective customers and current customers should be treated, empower them!

E - Elegance is about what you don't do more than what you do.

As a programmer we learn that 'elegant code' is where you do the same function with less lines of programming code. Similiarly an elegant website uses the 'less is more' idea. Cramming the site full of information or giving the visitors too many choices is not elegant. Do it simply, do it elegantly.

I just love this acronym and am using it in all areas of my life. It covers the power and sophistication of what a successful 'anything' should be.

Cheers,
Ron