When developing a show, creating a brand or even finessing your event website, our natural inclination is to not leave anything out. Afterall, it is the finer detail that often informs your audience that your exhibition is the event for them. 

We all know the term ‘the devil is in the detail,’ but according to a fourteenth century friar called William of Ockham, even back then there was such a thing as ‘too much info’. 

A scholastic philosopher as well as being a man of the cloth, Ockham’s body of work was noted for often coming back to the philosophical razor rule of thumb that in life we should avoid unnecessary actions and that “plurality must never be posited without necessity.” 

Born out of Ockham’s writings came the rule known as ‘Occam’s Razor.’ In today’s world, Occam’s Razor is now a process that cutting edge creators, content makers and designers use to refine or shave away unnecessary clutter from their offering to deliver a more impactful end product or user experience (UX). 

How can event marketers wield Occam’s Razor? 

When designing or adding information to an event website homepage, it is almost too easy to get carried away on making sure absolutely every aspect of your customer needs are covered. The outcome is that your online one-stop-shop homepage can often be about as navigable as a hoarder’s house. 

When it comes to laying out your event website homepage, below are some questions to ask yourself to help you be ruthless and wield that metaphorical razor on any element that is taking away from your website’s UX. 

• Do you really need that potentially distracting design feature? Pop-ups may be one of your razor’s first victims. 
• Is it easy for your web users to find the information they require?
• Does your event website have too many choices?
• Is every element of the navigation bar necessary?  
• Is your website accessible for all?
• Is the wording you are using concise and easy to understand?

Finally, when deciding on the user experience and customer journey of your event website, think of Ockham and remember that perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. 

Less is more.

If you'd like help with your website's UX (user experience) talk to us today, we offer content health checks as well as more bespoke consultancy.