Do you know what a “burger menu” is? Are you familiar with the latest trends in website design? Do you use tools like Colour Paletton or UI Gradients to choose the most trendy colour combinations? All these elements are part of your site design and have a direct impact on the User Experience. In recent years, thanks to the guidelines created by major web players and UX uniformisation by sector of activity, standardisation has been the rule. Here are some striking examples of the standardisation of User Experience internationally!
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Norms defined by the GAFA and other start-ups
With Material Design (2014), Google imposed a brand-new approach to interface design. Initially proposed for the Android operating system, it is a comprehensive approach that bridges the traditional principles of good design and the new possibilities afforded by technological advances. Material Design established a common language across different devices: laptop, tablet and smartphone. The user enjoys a consistent experience regardless of the usage context.
Thus we gradually arrived at a design standardisation threshold. The guidelines from Google (and the rest of the GAFA) have now been reproduced to the point of saturation with the sole objective of improving performance to rationalise transformation rates. This trend is further reinforced by the fact that good indexing with Google is also contingent on adhering to these norms established by Google. Thus emotion is slowly draining out of user experiences in favour of efficiency.
However, big names like Trainline, Airbnb, Zalando and Evaneos are breaking with this efficiency/emotion dichotomy and betting on an original User Experience. These start-ups and internet giants now offer new design pathways by editorialising their content.
Harmonisation of international standards by sector
Although some components of a website are completely specific to a country, region or other geographic unit, UX is increasingly standardised at the international level. There is no boundary for the different User Experience standards described in the previous section. But some elements are even more standardised depending on the business sector.
It is especially noticeable in the world of tech start-ups. Indeed, regardless of the country of origin of an SaaS start-up, the chances are very high that the User Experience on its website will resemble that of its competitors in every way. Let’s consider two start-ups in the FinTech sector: Revolut and Ditto Bank. Looking at the home pages of both companies’ sites, the resemblance is striking. Here are some of the virtually identical elements on these websites:
- Logo at the top left;
- White background;
- Colour palettes (blue, pink, purple);
- Style of illustrations (mock-ups, screenshots, credit card);
- Calls-to-action to download the app on the Apple or Androïd Store.
The same is true for the B-to-B SaaS firms Spendesk and Forest. Both of them are the product of the eFounders start-up studio and both of these young French businesses have websites that are so similar as to be interchangeable:
In addition to the fonts, illustration styles and colours (the same green-to-blue fading and same shade of purple), there are also striking similarities in the wording:
- Two lines for the page header;
- Two description lines;
- A CTA to sign up via email.
Another business sector that is quite susceptible to this convergence of user experiences is meal delivery platforms.
Here again, one finds the same components in nearly the same places on the three sites:
- Logo at the top left;
- Header height;
- Background is a flat stretch of colour (white or fade);
- A meal-related image that takes up about one-third of the screen;
- The CTA to log in or create an account at the top right.
Even the wording on the two sites is tremendously similar; it illustrates the common concept and benefits of these platforms: fast delivery of the consumer’s favourite dishes.
Tech companies and start-ups are not the only ones affected by the phenomenon of harmonisation. Even much ‘older’ companies such as the automakers Renault, Toyota and Volkswagen have websites of similar design:
The same codes of the automobile sector can be found on the three sites:
- Flagship products or current promotions are highlighted (in the menu and in a large photo carousel in the header);
- Logo on the left for Toyota and Volkswagen (Renault stands out on this point!);
- Menu items (finding dealers, range, after-sales service, used cars, etc.).
In summary, at first glance, there are glaring similarities between the websites of companies in the same business sector. The standards seem to be defined and followed by the biggest names in the market…and also suggest that a company which dares to break from them would upset web users and thus not succeed.
From Asia to North America and Europe, consumer expectations are harmonising in terms of User Experience and content.
But be careful not to believe that you have to follow the same strategy everywhere: for a successful international UX and content strategy, you will have to adapt to your target country, your users, their habits and their culture.
UX is an extremely fast evolving field, and users are increasingly demanding regarding the quality of the experiences and content that brands offer them. You must therefore always remain attentive to the developments in your industry and the new trends to follow, without ever losing your uniqueness and the DNA of your brand.
To learn more about content strategies for a good UX on an international scale, download our latest eBook published in partnership with UX-Republic!
