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Most customers can't name what makes a website feel cheap.
They just feel it.
Ask them why a site felt cheap and you'll hear "I don't know, it just did." What they felt was the page stuttering when they moved the mouse, or a photo arriving a beat after its caption.
It's not something a client can brief, either. "Make it feel premium" doesn't tell anyone what to fix. So a lot of my time on a site goes into things no visitor will ever mention.
While building Chớm, a perfume brand I made from the name up, I caught a woman's hand passing straight through the side of her handbag for a split second. Nobody would have spotted it, but the street would have looked a little fake. Since then, a check steps through the people and props frame by frame, looking for anything passing through anything else.
What's one small thing that makes a website feel cheap to you?
Chớm (in Vietnamese, best on a desktop): https://shockingmike.github.io/chom/
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wow, nothing but top notch
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Next month, a phone made of shell.
STILL LIFE SERVICE. Case study dropping soon.
Which object earns your shelf? Reply below.
The inflatable flower. Only houseplant I'm guaranteed not to kill. Also, a new object every month is a sneaky good retention hook, people will stay subscribed just to see what's next.
I don’t avoid templates just to make things look different.
I avoid flattening a physical brand into a generic digital experience.
A restaurant, studio, fashion label or product can have incredible character in the real world, then lose all of it the moment it becomes a website.
That gap is what interests me.
The website should be able to carry the atmosphere through layout, typography, pacing, motion and interaction, and ideally attract people before they ever experience the physical space.
Not every project needs to be highly expressive.
Some websites should stay simple, direct and functional.
But even simplicity can carry identity.
Bolluni was built with that in mind: translating the character of the restaurant into a digital experience rather than simply presenting information.
Embrace the Creativity.
So well said. That's exactly the problem - a restaurant can have so much soul IRL then become another generic grid online. Love that you don't just avoid templates to be different, but to protect the brand's actual character. 100% agree.