When creating your companies website the customer is always at the forefront. You have to be able to design something that is appealing to the eye, while also being easy to navigate. But the question is, which do consumers value more?
Both the form and function of a website is very important. If it’s not easy to manage consumers can get frustrated and navigate away from your site. The same thing can happen if your site has a horrible web design. Take these two websites, for example.
The image on the left is appealing to the eye, it gives context of what you might look for on the site, and it has a sense of direction. The image on the left, however, is difficult to follow, doesn’t give much inform the consumer of all it has to offer, and its pure chaos. In this case its obviously which site a customer would prefer to use.
Overall, in the debate of what the customer prefers, I think the answer is both. Consumers want to be able to navigate freely through a site and find what they are looking for while also enjoying and engaging with the site because it looks good!