When I gave iterative design a shout-out in a recent blog post, Results Direct Senior Vice President of Client Services Cecilia Satovich saw the value of what I was pitching. She pitches the same concept to clients.

But she says there are reasons many associations don’t take this approach—particularly, iterative design turns looking good into a maintenance task, which is, in a word, boring.

Compare this to the process of a redesign, she writes in a LinkedIn post:

Redesigns by nature are fun—everyone gets to collectively complain about what’s completely wrong about the current website, and what’s even better, you get to feel like you’re doing something about it. You get to think about what the new site would look like. You get to imagine all the ways it will be easier for you and beneficial for your organization. It’s the equivalent of shopping for a new house—everything looks glorious.

The problem, she says, is that associations often choose redesign over iterative design for the wrong reasons.

“Yes, it is sometimes necessary to rip and replace your website when things aren’t working and you need a new structure (i.e.—most websites that aren’t already responsive),” she writes. “But the truth is, most organizations are choosing to redesign their sites due to a lack of maintenance and staff turnover [rather] than for actual business reasons.”

Does your association need to rethink its design approach?

Infographic of the Day

Web developers, we feel your pain. For more than two decades, websites have struggled to support all the browsers out there, and users have been famously stuck in their ways, staying with browsers of technically lower quality, often due to preference or inertia.

In a this new infographic, Mozilla uses data to make the case for cross-browser support. Check out this article to get the full skinny.

Other Links of Note

Feel like you’re always struggling? Highrise CEO Nathan Kontny shares some personal setbacks and the advice that keeps him going: Go forth and do your thing.

Trying to design a great e-learning program? Check out the Event Garde blog, where Kristen Parker highlights a recent e-book by strategist Ethan Edwards.

Looking for a few brain-sparking links to add to your email boxes or Twitter feeds? Check out what Association Brain Food writer Deirdre Reid recommends. (We admit we’re a little biased: Reid includes Associations Now on her list. Thanks, Dierdre!)

(iStock/Thinkstock)