Web Designers are Unique Artists - but Most Fail to Realize It

Let’s take a look at something near and dear to my geek-heart - web design.

Let’s look at ‘web design’ this way.

Are you a web designer?
Then you are an artist.
But, you’re not what most people think of when they hear ‘artist.’ You’re a unique artist. Your art is interactive.
What you create is not just a static piece of canvas to be hung on a wall.
What you create is a mix of visual beauty and interactivity.

The interactivity is what most web designers fail to remember.

…there are some instances where it’s more than appropriate to adorn every margin, button and headline with fancy ornaments and sparkly rollover effects.
Generally speaking though, these trinkets are not only superfluous, but end up being distractions that devalue the content on your site, further complicates it’s learning curve, and conceals whatever it is that your visitors came for in the first place.
-Lee

Do you get where I’m going?
No?

Ok, let’s back up.

You’re a web designer.
What are you creating? A web site.
Why would someone want to visit your web site? The content.

Remember the content?
The whole reason you’re creating this web site?

You see, web design is knowing your canvas. (-nclud)
And in order to know your canvas you need to thoroughly understand three things: what your medium is, who’s examining your art, and why they want to look at your site.

What’s the Medium?

What’s the medium you’re using to convey your information?
A web site of course!

That web site has two specific limits.
-A computer monitor.
-The particular coding you’re using. (CSS, Flash, PHP, etc.)

So, what ever you design must be displayed on a computer monitor (of varying sizes, resolutions, and colors), and must have proper code in order to actually be displayed.

Ok, so there are your limitations.

Who’s Examining Your Artwork?

Well, you could probably tell me more about the type of person who’s viewing your web site, but I can tell you three things.

1. It’s either a human or a spiderbot.
2. The human is using a web browser.
3. The person may or may not know a lot about the internet and how to surf it.

While those three things may seem rather simple, they do have a lot of implications.
Before you design a web site, think about them.
1. Your web site’s viewers are human, just like you are. And also don’t forget those wonderful Google spiderbots that crawl through your web site’s guts.
2. The browser could be Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or any one of a myriad of web browsers on various operating systems. So take those into account in your web site design.
3. Consider the knowledge base of your audience in your design - he/she may not know as much about the web as you do. Everyone views the web for the first time! Would someone who’s new to the internet be able to easily browse your site with as much ease as a seasoned web viewer?

Why Does Someone Want to Look at Your Web Site?

What drives someone to view your site?
Is it the fru-fru graphics? Or the content?
What specific parts of your site are more important than others?
Which ways will someone want to view your content?

Do not forget that it is the content that will keep your visitors returning.
If the visitor cannot easily dive into your content than he/she will simply switch back over to Google and find someone else with the simple click of a button.

Now Think

The design of the site is much more important than the coding or graphics.
A good design will keep visitors returning. They’re the reason you’ve created the site after all.
Don’t dismiss the layout of your web site. It’s more important than most think.
So think long and hard about it.

Good design = Good web site = Returning visitors

Image credits:
Grand Street: Painter by moriza
I bought a Magnifying Glass by vivalibre574