Posted On September 6th, 2009 Author Kyle Racki
Filed Under Design, 5
For years, web designers have not gotten the respect of print or interior designers in the greater design community. Need proof? Take a look at any design annual or magazine such as Communication Arts, AIGA, or any of the design competitions or award shows. Web is always it’s own category, and simple, well-designed sites are rarely considered for web awards, with most judges favoring big-budget Flash sites featuring embedded video and gimmicky games.
With this stigma attached to web design, many designers coming out of school are turned off by designing for the web, thinking of it as a limiting platform for design. After all, with print you aren’t limited by available fonts, screen resolutions or bandwidth. The world is your oyster with print, at least in their minds, while web is the unfortunate necessity you have no choice but to design for. But I thought I’d outline reasons why designing for the web can be more fun than designing a print piece. Some might say that some of these reasons are actually more in print’s favor, but I disagree, as you’ll see:
1. People use the web
Sure, people use print too, such as in the case of newspapers, magazines or catalogs. But generally speaking, users visit a website, sometimes daily, in order to find information. Print is easily discarded, while a user will return to a website time and again to buy products, view editorial content, or interact with a social community. (There’s a reason the newspaper industry is hurting, and many publishing companies are scrambling to switch their advertisers over to the web.)
It is this general nature of websites that make it more fun to design for—you have to always be thinking about usability, unlike print where you are mostly thinking about visual interest first. The left/right brain mentality of always designing with the user in mind is what makes the web so fun to design for.
2. Users can contribute to a website
The idea of readers of media contributing their thoughts and opinions is not new. For a long time people have been interested in submitting ‘letters to the editor’ in order to get their rantings published. The beauty of the web is that it’s so much easier, and without as much of the screening process of traditional editorial—users ideas, intelligent or not, can get out there for people to see.
This presents an interesting design challenge. How can you visually allow for content that will grow, expand and change long after you’ve designed the website? That challenge, to create a flexible information scheme that will allow for change, is fascinating to be faced with as a web designer.
3. You don’t know which device your audience will be using
Print is so easy in some respects. When you design an 8 page brochure, you know exactly how big it will be, how close people will be viewing it, what material it will be printed on and so on.
With the web, there is an endless variety of ways users can see a site or application. Some of your users may be viewing it on an outdated 800 x 600 screen resolution, so the site will appear big and bulky with little white space, while others may be on a massive 30” flat panel, resulting in the website appearing tiny taking up little of the screen.
Other users still might be on a mobile device, be it an iPhone, a Blackberry or a Razr, people use the web very differently on these devices than when using a desktop PC. Let’s not even get started on browsers; Firefox, Internet Explorer 6-8, Safari, Chrome, Opera, Camino, there are so many browsers out there and many do not interpret HTML and CSS the same way which can have disasterous effects on your design.
The challenge of designing for so many unknowns presents a difficult, yet satisfying challenge when your end product is accessible, and enjoyable to use on a variety of browsers and devices.
4. Separation of content and design makes your website design easy to update
Sure, the print world has Adobe InDesign and QuarkXpress, both of which offer style sheets and master pages which allow for templating pages and easy updating of text. But how often are print designs done in Photoshop or Illustrator? In these applications, it can be time consuming and difficult to update your designs.
The beauty of modern web design is that structure (XHTML) is separate from data (Database), which is separate from behavior (Javascript and server-side code) which is separate from aesthetics (CSS). WIth this separation of all of the elements means it is generally painless to update one without touching the other. Want to style a comment form that sits on hundreds of existing blog posts? No need to go by through one-by-one, just edit the style sheet, and presto! Every form across the whole website is updated to reflect your design choices.
That sure beats suffering through Photoshop layers.
5. You can’t animate print design
Maybe with the exception of pop-up books or flip-books, print material does not animate. And while we are comparing apples and oranges, the fun of designing an interface is that animation presents a whole other box of tools in your design arsenal.
While Flash animations of the web 1.0 era has left a bad taste in many mouths, the fact is, being able to show/hide panels of information, and fade or slide in images can add a lot to the user-experience. Even when appropriate, being able to embed video or animate text and images in Flash can be entertaining for the end-user. The ability to add sound, motion and video to a web interface, if done with good taste, gives you so much more to experiment with as a creative professional.
6. A client can update their content
This is often seen as a bad thing, especially when designing with a particular CMS in mind. But once you get used to the idea, letting clients manage their content creates a strange kind of therapeutic notion of letting your little baby bird fly away, not know what kind of adventures will come it’s way.
Okay, that’s a bit over the top, but it’s true that, while it can be disheartening to see a client with poor taste and little self control mangle your beautiful design with bad content, it can also be exhilarating to come back to visit a site you designed six months ago, and see that the client has kept it up-to-date with engaging content.
7. Visually impaired users can still enjoy your website’s content
When you think about it, a website is kind of like a print-piece that has Braille automatically built in. In other words, if you design and build your site to standards, with clean, semantic mark-up, add properly described alt attributes to images to name a few things, your website can be enjoyed by disabled users using a screen reader.
This doesn’t necessarily make it fun to design for, but it is something the modern web designer is always thinking about as he or she designs. Which is partially why, as an example, web designers use unordered lists styled with CSS image replacement instead of a table of images. The visual result is the same, but done the proper way, visually impaired users can still use your site’s navigation. The feeling of knowing that you’re building something accessible to all is satisfying, even fun in itself, isn’t it?
8. Users can always print out your website—not the other way around.
While the notion of a paperless office is an ideal worth striving for, the fact is, most users who want to read long articles would prefer to print out a web page instead of reading on the screen. With CSS, you can even specify a unique style sheet for the website when it’s printed, allowing for things like hiding interface elements, search bars, and colours that drain ink usage, and providing a simple, attractive black and white text layout that makes use of the paper space, which will make users much happier to read when they print it out.
While creating a print style sheet isn’t exactly fun in itself, knowing users can print the website content and comfortable read it adds to the overall user experience.
9. No nasty print errors
Print designers know that dreaded phone call all too well. The printer has an issue with your InDesign files, or worse, the client has received the printed copies and all of the images printed low res, or there’s a typo, or there was mis-registration of the colours. You know the drill. Just knowing there are the potential with those kinds of errors can cause undue anxiety on a designer.
Of course, when designing for the web, you need to be cognizant of errors, and we all know that things will go wrong, especially when viewing the site using Internet Explorer. But here’s the difference—when something goes wrong on the web, you fix it. You don’t need to start from scratch and re-develop the website. Having that safety net makes the web more fun to design for.
Those are my thoughts. If you have any more, please leave them in the comments below, or if you are an enraged print designer, please leave your opinion below as well.
Posted On January 27th, 2009 Author Kyle Racki
Filed Under Design, Business, 1
For those of us who design and build websites, we know that there are ones that go smoothly, and ones that don’t. But even more important than how it goes while we’re working on it is what happens after the site goes live. This is where in some cases, the team designing the website need to know how to follow through.
There is a reason many of us fall short when it comes to following through; Let’s face it, when we get a new project in the door, we’re excited. Oh, the possibilities—especially when it’s a new client, or a new type of project from an existing client. We as designers are often anxious to begin sinking our teeth into a new problem, and coming up with a design, possibly utilizing a new style, trend or technique that we want to add to our portfolio.
But then what happens; After numerous client revisions, CMS development, IE6 bugs, and waiting for content to trickle in, boredom sets in as well. Perhaps another client project has come in that has replaced the passion we once had for the website that is now 85% done (but is just waiting on copy or client feedback). I believe this is why some sites that could have been great, just end up alright. I also believe a lack of follow-through can negatively influence our relationship with our client and affect future opportunities.
First of all, let’s look at how we follow through:
Content Implementation
In many projects, we have to deal with client-provided content. We all know that even if our client is Cormack McCarthy, client-provided copy is never as effective as if we have a web copywriter who can at least refine the provided content.
This is where attention to detail matters. It’s not just the “About Us” and “our Products & Services” copy that matters, it’s the little things. The headline that users see when they first visit the site, the intro paragraph, the email subscribe lead in, the contact call to action. These should not be after-thoughts, or meaninglessly tossed in. The attention to detail in the content can make or break a website. Often, the short blurbs of copy get read by more users than the ‘meat’ content of the website.
Design refinement
This ties in closely with content implementation. The tendency can be to simply flow in content into a web page CMS, but here the design choice we make can have a dramatic impact on the usability and thus, success of the site.
Because web designers often design before they receive finished content, unlike print designers who manage to get copy before they start, the initial design merely serves as a template. It may include a polished style for the header, footer, sidebar and home page layout, but the content—the most important element on most sites—can get neglected and become replaced with Lorum Ipsum. I believe some of the most interesting parts of the design process can come after the back-end is built and finished content is being flowed into the site.
Could the list within the copy be pulled out into a side box? Could the lead-in be larger and more dramatic? Could those three paragraphs of copy be set up into three columns within the content box? Would the list or prices work better in a nicely formatted table instead of an unordered list?
A great example is how Erskine Design changes their site layout to fit content, in particular, the case studies:
Another example is Jason Santa Maria’s website. He designs entire layouts based on the content of his blog posts.
CSS tweaks and fixes
While arguably the same as design refinement, tweaking our CSS can take a website from being ho-hum to oscar worthy (whatever that means in the design world).
Designers often hate it when the developed website doesn’t match our graphic design files. Conversely, sometimes we get sloppy in the design stage and don’t place elements with pixel precision, or we don’t bother with spacing out the headings from the paragraphs for example. This is where again, follow through at the end stage makes a difference. Also, making sure our site works in every browser/state possible, including mobile and print, will ensure our users always have a positive experience.
Client relationship
Maintaining a strong client relationship doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the quality of the work you provide. You could have designed a killer website, and your client may be thrilled, or at least satisfied—and yet you could still pass up the opportunity for future work.
A good practice is to follow up with the client when all is said and done, when the site is live, when you’re busy adding it to your website portfolio. Take the time to write an email (and no, the invoice doesn’t count) thanking the client for their business, especially if this isn’t the first job they’ve brought to you. Ask them if they were satisfied with, not only the work, but the process and the support/service they received. This is really simple, but it goes a long way.
If the client was pleased, ask them for a testimonial and if you can use them as a referral. If they have complaints, truly listen, apologize where necessary and thank them for their honest feedback. You just may get the next job they have down the line.
Getting the word out - Website Marketing
And now another slight shift in topic, getting a client’s site out for people to see. If you’ve engaged the client in an upfront marketing strategy, then this should have already been planned out. But even if the client came to you for a straight-ahead design/build—you can still drop them a line after the site launched and present ideas to market the website.
Many clients and designers dust their hands clean when they finish a website, but this is the time when you can really do good for your client by helping them realize that simply because they have a new website doesn’t mean it’s going to market itself. As an added bonus, you can secure yourself more paid work by offering some or all of the following:
- On-site Search Engine Optimization
- Link building strategy and implementation
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Assessment and strategy
- CPC Campaign management
- Traditional print/radio advertising
- Ambient/guerrilla advertising
Just like swinging a golf club, or shooting pool—a good follow-through will bring you the most success. If you do it right, you’ll ensure that you’re happy with your work, and so is your client.
Posted On January 8th, 2009 Author Kyle Racki
Filed Under Design, External Articles, 0
The always excellent Smashing Magazine put out a post a while back, with web trends for 2009. I felt personally that these were merely trends that have already been established in 2008.
Apparently Smashing Magazine can read my mind, because this week they put out an article on “More Web Trends for 2009”, and I feel this list definitely hits the mark on design styles that I’ve seen a little bit of last year (some I’ve even used myself), but trends we can expect to see more and more of this year. Worth a read.
Posted On December 28th, 2008 Author Kyle Racki
Filed Under Design, 3
Most small to medium business have heard the term ‘branding’ thrown around before. Some think it’s a meaningless buzzword, others know that having a healthy brand is vital to the success of a company. But somewhere in the life of a business, it is essential to take a step back and re-brand, at least from a visual standpoint. But when does such a drastic decision need to be made?
When not to re-brand
Some small businesses when starting out, get a quick-and-dirty logo designed from a friend or relative. Eventually, they realize the short-sightedness of that decision when they receive negative feedback, or when they see that the identity doesn’t truly represent who they are.
Other times, a business will go through the right steps and contract a reputable, qualified freelancer or agency to brand their new company, looking at not just a logo, but the entire visual strategy that represents the goals, reputation and audience of the company. Some clients will then roll out this new brand, and then get antsy because they are not seeing instant results. This is not the time to re-brand.
Brands take time to become established. Did McDonald’s or Nike enjoy instant recognition when the golden arches or the check mark first came out? No. Will your well-thought out visual strategy instantly achieve success after six months and a few ad spots? Never. This is not the downfall of the designer or marketing team; all brands require time to grab hold of their market. Definitely keep an eye on it’s success level and act accordingly, but don’t jump the gun and re-brand if it’s not warranted.
Is your visual brand properly defining your business goals?
When you think that your brand may be losing it’s freshness, one of the key issues to ask about isn’t, “Does my logo still feel cool to me”. Personal aesthetic sensibility is never a true gauge of effectiveness. When you first branded your company, you would have received a brand strategy document and perhaps a positioning statement. At the time you may have thought that this was meaningless fluff to justify the high price tag of your brand session, but in reality these documents serve as wonderful guides to continue to point you in the right direction.
Has anything changed in your business goals? Are you now widening, or perhaps narrowing your target. Is one of your customer groups responding better than the previous markets you initially focused on selling to? Do you offer different products or services than you did when you first branded yourself? If the answer is yes, then you may want to look at revisiting your visual brand to help match your new values.
Has it been out for years and people still can’t recognize it?
If you have been out there in the public, and your customers and target audience have seen your ads, your website, signage, and stationery, and still can’t seem to remember you—this may be a time to reconsider whether your brand is working.
Remember that your brand is your reputation, not just your logo. If you can’t retain customers, it may have nothing to do with how you look visually, it may have to do with poor service, lack of supply, or whatever other reason people look to other companies to meet their demand. This is where survey’s and focus groups can come in handy, perhaps invest in some marketing research, a usability test, or any other professional way to gather information and learn why you are having problems attracting and/or retaining customers.
If the reason is just that your visual marketing pieces are boring, and not interesting your target audience, it may be time to refresh or re-brand entirely.
Has a competitor stole your thunder?
Sometimes, there’s nothing wrong with your design identity. In fact, sometimes, it’s pretty good. But one thing about humans is they adapt, their interests switch. Sometimes, you need more than just good, especially if a competitor has come out with a strong, attention-grabbing way of marketing to your customers. In this situation, simply looking professional isn’t enough. You need to jump up and down, and make a scene… in a good way.
Big companies do it all the time. Any massive BTC corporation needs to fight continually to retain market share. This is why car companies come out with new ads instead of running the old ones. It’s why phone companies who previously had little competition come out with a re-brand all of a sudden. If the big guys need to do it, you’ll need to as well.
Can you salvage anything?
A word of caution; If you decide it’s time to re-brand, be careful not to throw out the brand equity you’ve built up over the years. Even if your previous brand wasn’t working, obviously some people have seen it, maybe some have even liked it. If there is anything to salvage in your brand identity, see if there’s a way to retain it, but to take it up to a whole new level.
Take a look at some examples of classic redesigns of large companies, and notice how many times, they retain existing qualities to their old identities.
A more dynamic version of the simplistic burger icon.
Same log, new sleek look for Apple.
A recent redesign for Bell. They lost the uninspired icon, and kept a simple, but effective word mark.
For some more great versions of redesigned, check out this post on stunning examples of a great redesign.
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