Do you cringe whenever you look at old high school photos? The big hair, inappropriately short shorts and strange clothing seemed normal at the time. Well, every web developer and designer who has been around since the beginning of the web has the same reaction when looking back at old projects.
The field of web design has changed a lot in the last 15 years. I'm not talking about just the visual style-obviously we're much more stylish and subtle today. No, the more important lessons are the ones we've learned in the organization and presentation of data within the web site.
This learning process was evolutionary and is still ongoing. We've learned what works and what doesn't work by watching user behavior, gathering data through usability studies, traffic analytics and sometimes just dumb luck. We've tried new things, proclaimed them as THE necessary feature and then slowly backed away when the results weren't as intended. Web site features that everyone now knows should never be used (blinking text, splash pages, unreadable text on elaborate background patterns, and loud auto-playing music) are items that are now largely banished to the nether regions of MySpace.
What kind of website do you need? The answer to that question lies in the type of content you will be providing and your overall goals for the site. Below are some of the extremes of web site visual design. Chances are your site will be a blend of these approaches. You might have strong visuals to help brand your company or product while keeping animated elements to a minimum. The important this is that we find out exactly where on this spectrum you should land before starting on the visual layout.
Creating a web site is a complicated process. The most obvious item most people notice on a web site is the visual design-all the shiny buttons, pictures, animations and graphics. Most clients are understandably eager to see how the site will look and often want to move into visual comps right away.
It is common for clients to ask for a visual mock-up of how their site will look before any type of formal meeting and, unfortunately, some designers will actually create a mock-up and proudly proclaim, "This is how your site should look".
Keep in mind that at this point, the designer has not yet discussed the project with the client in detail. The designer does not know the company's goals, their message, what has and has not worked for them in the past and where the company wants to be in the future. The designer does not yet know what features are needed, who the desired audience is, or what visual style the client desires.
Any mock-up created at this point is not Design, it is Art. This mock-up was created to be shiny and impressive. It can be hung on a wall. The client can proudly show the picture to associates and bask in its beauty. More than likely it will fail as a useful web site.
Yes, you can use any of the dozens of robot-related cliches to describe our new dancing robotic overlords, but it still makes me smile. Robots now have better rhythm than most white guys. If Skynet had just equipped it's T1000 killbots with this beatbox tech it might have succeeded in killing Sarah Conner while she was was distracted with the dancing.
What are your goals? Yes, I know you "want to put your business on the web" or "create a blog", but what is your actual goal? How will your users interact with the site and how can we make it easier on them? What will make your site stand out and what will keep people away?
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Any mock-up created at this point is not Design, it is Art. This mock-up was created to be shiny and impressive. It can be hung on a wall. The client can proudly show the picture to associates and bask in its beauty. More than likely it will fail as a useful web site.