4 Things You Can Learn About Web Design From Games

Nintendo President and CEO Satoru Iwata died recently, and if you have not noticed, he summed up his philosophy brilliantly in his keynote at the Game Developers Conference in 2005 which has been popular on the internet for the past few days.

Here it is “On my business card, I am a a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.”

I am sure, most of us have played computer games before, while some of us are proud to be gamers, other may find that their passion lies else where. Regardless, here are 4 things that games can actually teach you about web design.

Make it interactive

The internet is interactive, your actions actually control how you want to see things on the internet. Users come to your site expecting to be amazed, if your website fails to amaze your audience, then it lacks attractiveness.

Many of such “interactiveness” came from video games, because humans like “gamified” things, in other words, things that has an element of interactiveness, it will be great if your website can have this “game element” in it to create the sense of excitement and surprise.

Have a good story

I am sure every game comes with a storyline, for example, Mario wants to save the princess or the character wants to become a Pokemon master. You probably will feel more energetic when you can finally help Mario save his princess. It is this sense of energy that gives the audience satisfaction when coming to your website.

Good examples include interactive landing pages and corporate websites. Think about what do you want the users to feel when they come to your website and create a story around that.

Start your own trend

Websites are getting similar today. Take a look at various corporate websites and you will notice that they are probably 80% similar. What is the purpose of having a website that look like all the others? There will be no individuality. This is similar to video games, if your game is similar to another game, it will be difficult to sell your game because it does not have its own uniqueness.

While having trends is a way of improvement, it also helps your gauge the direction that the industry is moving towards. But it is slowly killing the message you want to send out with your website. We will suggest not having an entirely similar website as your competitors, or better, have a totally unique website.

Do not waste your time

If the website you are designing is not going to help your client achieve his or her goals, your client will terminate the project with you, sooner or later. You definitely do not want to waste your time working on something that might be rejected by your client. An advice will be to always communicate with your client, understand their needs and produce quality results that your client will be sure to accept.

In conclusion, keep in mind to always aim for the best you can give and never let the gaming spirit cease in you.