In the process of creating sites, do you
Design for yourself
Design for Google
Make a site truly reflecting the customers needs
*The user
Design a site for other designers
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Ohh, now thatâs an interesting question! I wonder how many will answer truthfully (for many) number 5: Other designers? I say that, as itâs obvious that many (most?) make sites to impress other designers. Which is daft.
But you missed the most important one⌠The user.
I talk to the client, work out what they need, not what they want, then focus on that. Far too often another designer has already convinced them they need all manner of nonsense (see my previous point) so I spend most of my time telling them they really donât need it.
I then take all that, work out how to make it as user friendly as possible, then match it to what Google likes.
I then build it. And itâs almost always simple. Cus simple works.
Samples are in my portfolio. Portfolio of our website designs for small businesses. Which is badly in need of updating!
A website is merely a building in which the client displays their wares and the users finds what they want. You can put all manner of fancy nonsense in front of the clients wares, but all itâs doing is distracting the users and more often than not making it harder to find what they want.
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In my area we had a handful of sign makers who were very competitive. Over 20 years the town had amazing signage and van liveries ( including the introduction of wrapping - years before it even became a thing ) We were designing for other sign companies - BUT sadly it got us no where in the end. Except a town full of over designed shop fronts and fancy vans. It does come at a cost!
So I agree with your response to number 5!
Before I went full time in this game I had a thriving retail business (sold it in the end). My shop was a shit hole. Bit harsh, but it certainly wasnât âboutiqueâ as all my competitors were. It did well cus we knew what we were talking about, gave great service and didnât BS people. I suspect in the 15 years I had it I spent less on shop fitouts than most spent yearly on keeping their shops looking âon-trendâ.
Most of those boutiques are long gone, but the business I sold is still growing year on year.
So the moral is? Iâll let others decide that for themselves.
The moral is⌠In my opinion⌠That eventually, substance will always win over style.
It goes back to the old adage about websites. A rubbish looking site with great content will always work better for you than one that looks amazing but has shite content. Of course, it often takes time for the to come around, but it almost always will.
In short: Poeple are only impressed by shiny stuff for so long. IMO.
For myself. Because I can. And because I spent a whole career in design accommodating clients, and their customer research, and⌠so what? And because I saw Steve Jobs present three times in person, and the thing that impressed me about Jobs â and there was much that didnât (including the way he treated people) â was that the ultimate arbiter of whether something was good or not was whether he liked it. And none of us would be here if he hadnât liked âinsanely greatâ stuff that was nothing like what users were asking for.
Wait⌠Jobs is my real dad?
Totally agree! Hereâs a quote from the master that sums it up quite nicely.
Steve Jobs:
âSome people say, âGive the customers what they want.â But thatâs not my approach. Our job is to figure out what theyâre going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, âIf Iâd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, âA faster horse!ââ People donât know what they want until you show it to them. Thatâs why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.â
Sorry, I just donât buy into this messianic BS about Jobs. Sure, he had some great ideas, but some terrible ones too. He mostly took other peoples ideas and made them better, which is a great skill, but doesnât elevate him to the level his fans put him at. He also utterly failed to give the customer what they wanted when everyone else was giving it to them. Not because he wanted to do it better, but because he was pig headed. That was until sales slowed then he buckled.
He was really really good at marketing. And Johnny Ives was a great designer. But does the reality of Jobs live up to the legend? In my opinion, no. Good. Great even, and certainly very savvy, but not a genius. As is often said.
Just my opinion.
And if quoting him, my fav is along the lines of "I put all the Mac marketing budget into the iPod. Because I knew that the iPod would drive the sales of everything else." He wasnât wrong.
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Is it not determined by the purpose of the site?
Interesting chat - I just started my thirtieth year teaching future designers (all sorts - product designers, graphic designers, illustrators, entertainment designers -games / theme parks / animation, etc) - and the way I frame everything -yes, everything we do is itâs always an act of communication. It just happens to be visual. Thinking this way really helps you do better work - it helps keep whim, taste, and decoration away from the steering wheel, so to speak. Thereâs a place for that, but itâs not even the back seat - maybe the trunk :)
To me, communication is always two things - what I want you to know (content) and how I want you to feel. Basically, what we say and how we say it. This is why we have 8 billion or so fonts. We really only need one moderately legible font to read, but the font style is a big part of conveying the all important emotional part of the message. A corollary - good communication always takes into account the audience that is being spoken to. My tone of voice is automatically and unconsciously different when Iâm talking to, say, a toddler, the cop that pulled me over for speeding, old people, etc.
I donât do a lot of web design for others, but when I do one of the first things I bring up is the pecking order of priorities. We are first talking (content and âemotionalityâ) to their specific audience. Every color, font, layout, etc is with this in mind. Our next audience is google - these decisions need to be made in a way that helps SEO. The least important constituent? Them! Their tastes / whims / etc only get to play if they donât get in the way of the first two stated goals. If it makes it function better - Iâm in. If it doesnât, itâs up to me to show them how that happens. It helps to have a viable design-related reason for every choice you make so you can make your case. I donât expect a client to know in depth what I know any more that I would expect to know how to run their business. If this mindset is a big issue with them, youâve probably gotten a giant clue that theyâre going to be a horrible client. Walk a way if you can or be ready to spend a lot of time parenting your bratty (but paying) client.
My 3 cents, anyway - I added an extra cent because Iâm wordy and unnaturally passionate about these ideas - I hope theyâve given you something to think about!
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Brilliant post.
Awe shucks :) Thanks for the kind words!
uh⌠I guess you made that remark in general and not to me, as I only referred to him as âmasterâ, you know âmasterâ as in the old days âmaster craftsmanâ đ
Completely agree! Newton anyone? No? Lisa?
But his biggest goof was hiring Sculley, who later sacked him! ButâŚweâd have to visit some alternate universe to see what would have happened if he didnât.
We can say he was a good learner, learned from his mistakes and eventually became a very shrewd businessman, though (from what I understand) not a very pleasant man.
Yes, apologies, it was a comment 8n general, about how some regard him as some sort of messiah.
though (from what I understand) not a very pleasant man.
I read the official bio, and from it you can only come to the conclusion that he was mostly a horrible individual. However, how true that bio was is anyoneâs guess, as he seemed to enjoy playing the villan as much as playing a god.
He did make a nice boat though.
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