There are people who think that designing Web sites comes naturally to people who are computer-savvy. Other people think a good design is something visually appealing that they can see on a computer screen.
Bad luck. That isn’t what Web site design is at all.
Web site design is a form of information design, or communication design. On this blog, I’ve recently been developing a set of rules for good visual design. But visual design is only 10% of the iceberg. Real Web site design is the other 90%—the analysis and the research that precede and inform visual design.
What is the real purpose of this site? What are the things it has to offer people, because otherwise it might as well not exist? Who precisely is going to be visiting this site? Who precisely do we want to visit this site? What can we offer them when they get here? How can we make sure they get what they want—and in the way they want it? These questions have to be answered before a designer even sketches a page.
People don’t want to spend time on Web sites. They certainly don’t come for the scenery. They want to find out answers to their questions, buy a product, arrange for a service—and then get on with their lives.
Yes, visual design is important. But what that means is communicating efficiently with a specific set of users. So it can’t start until the site concept has been unambiguously defined. It has to come after overall site design, or site structuring. It has to come after navigation design. And in itself, it has to allow users to scan fast, get what they want, and leave. A page which is visually appealing in its own right may be an absolute disaster as visual communication of a message.
At its worst, the sort of design of which your uncle says, “Oh, that’s really good,” is designer-centred design, ‘Look, Ma, no hands!’ stuff. I have one glaring local example in mind, but before I spring it on you, I’ll have a bit more to say about designer-centred design in my next post.
[...] have written before about how website design is not about creating pretty pages. In a follow-up post, I compared website design to designing teacups or bridges, but in formulating [...]