Even when it’s for the better and an obvious improvement, change can upset regular users of nearly anything. Frequent travelers to a particular hotel often request the same room time after time, even if there are things about it they find irritating. Change the carpet and the appeal of the room can diminish, as can the user’s loyalty. Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt, it breeds security and comfort.

Frequent users of a website adapt to and identify strongly with its look and feel. It can look like a disaster. But once the learning curve about usability is overcome, or the affronts of bad design adapted to, users find a subconscious comfort level with the environment, like an old shoe.

Reasons for changing a website’s look and feel can be many. A new brand identity is one, a new business strategy another. It may also be that the look and feel is generally musty, or looking dated, and it’s just time to repaint. When it comes time to change a website’s look and feel, there is a legacy of user adaptation that will resist the changes, no matter how brilliant and universally needed. There will be shrieks of impending doom for the site.

Solution? One is to get it right the first time. Spend more time finessing look and feel from the beginning, making it not only appropriate for the brand or mission, but also as a pleasant environment in which to spend time. Go for elegant timelessness, not the flavour-of-the month design. When the time comes to refresh or evolve, incremental changes will alienate fewer users, if noticed at all.

One change can, and must be made quickly. White type on black or dark gray for anything more than a few sentences of copy. It may look classy and luxurious, but it is very fatiguing to read and users opt out quicker than with black type on white. Change it and users will spend more time on pages, and engage more of the message.

Unlike what some – usually old – principles, change can be good. It simply needs a good plan and the right people to do the job.