Web Design

It seems like too many designers these days have this idea that web design is all about what's trendy now.  They get caught up in buzz words like parallax scrolling, and the latest javascript library.  And with the invasion of mobile web devices, designers have given way to minimalism, using almost nothing on their sites to ensure mobile compatibility. When did design become anything more or less than design?

When I took design in college, we all started in the basic design 101 class.  Engineers, fashion designers, retail consultants, web designers, everyone.  And that was when I learned my first big lesson in design:  Its the same for everyone.  Design is honestly the magic art of knowing your audience, and playing to them.  Our professor in that class, Erik Sandgren, said that even after all these rules and principals he was teaching us, it ultimately came down to what the client wanted.

Which is where I'm going with this post.  Web design today seems to be suffering from too many arrogant designers who think they know what is best, and that anyone disagreeing with them is just an idiot, including the client.  Why, just today I was searching a web design blog to find any suggestions on how to achieve a certain layout, and in the comment sections of an article found a gentleman on the warpath about the some of the suggestions.  His argument was that two of the ten bullets on the list could be achieved without using javascript, a staple of web design, and not something outlandish or difficult.  Other commentators pointed out that it was to ensure backwards compatibility.  And this gentleman just responded that he doesn't care what the client wants or says, that is the way its supposed to be done, if people weren't going to update, it wasn't his fault.

So, if you are planning to get into web design, I would beg you to consider this; web design isn't about trends on the web, its about bring the best of the web to your clients and their visitors.

Till next time, catch you on the flip side.