Today graphic design is seen as a means to make something pretty. I can’t begin to tell you how many time I have heard someone say to me “ it’s ok we will make it look pretty later”.

The idea that what a graphic designer does is less important may be because of this generation. A generation where everything is done on computers and earlier traditional methods are no longer practiced by the majority. It’s not a bad thing that the industry is evolving; it’s inevitable that things will change. We just need to change with them. With these changes we some to the issue that now anyone with word and a couple free fonts loaded on their computer think they are a designer. They can make any flyer look pretty and some think that’s all it takes. When people jump to these conclusions that graphic designers merely make things look good they are missing the point. What is the good of a website or design that it fun to look at but completely impossible to navigate. You need to see all angles of the project and exactly how to make a visual map of the design that is easy to follow.

Now I’m not saying that aesthetics are not important, because that’s what keeps people coming back. Would you keep going back to a dirty old worn out restaurant or the brand new restaurant two blocks farther, if they sold the exact same things. You will in the end be willing to go just a little bit out of your way to see something pleasing to the eye. You may also turn completely away if it is horrible and hard to look at. You cannot make something simply fun to look out though it must have a point, or an objective. Why continue going in one direction if you don’t know where you are going.

As Stephen P. Anderson states in his article “ In defense of eye candy”
“In many design conversations, there is a belief that applications are made enjoyable because we make them easy to use and efficient (interestingly, whether it’s stated or not, these conversations value the role that aesthetics plays in cognition). However, when we talk about how emotions influence interactions, it’s closer to the truth to say things that are enjoyable will be easy to use and efficient.” It’s not just about designing something you also need to make it understandable. Are you creating a skin for this object or are you changing the inside, Influencing how it works and how people react to it or are you simply making it pretty for pretties sake.

According to a 2002 study, the “appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size, and color schemes,” is the number one factor we use to evaluate a website’s credibility. I know personally I will leave a website if it’s hard to read, understand or navigate.

With the introduction of web design to the design world, you no longer print booklets but create websites, kind of the same as an instant poster. Web design is in a way the new frontier of graphic design, since It is fairly new and still has a long way to go before it is in any way mastered. Web design has it’s hurdles such as typographical limitations. The available amount of typeface is very limited since the typeface needs to be available on the computer the user is viewing the site from, not your personal computer. So even if you own Scala that does not mean that everyone computer in the world owns it too.

The job of a graphic designer never really changed, we need to change people’s mind about our importance. How one single button changed on a website could increase profits by thousands or dollars. Or how print ads influence a companies profit. There will always be a place for us in the world as long as someone is trying to sell an idea. As designers we need to not just dress up that idea but change it in a way that not only make it appealing to the eye but changes the way you communicate in an understandable, clean way.

Graphic design is so much more than just making something look “pretty,” especially when dealing with the art of web design. The ultimate goal of a graphic designer is to combine the areas of communication, beauty and professionalism in a way that successfully appeals to the viewer. If just one of the essential elements of a well designed web page are missing, then the viewer will have a mediocre experience, and the client will suffer as a result. Good design is not something that happens casually or by accident. Good design is carefully studied and executed. A good designer is not born as one and does not transform into one over night. Graphic designers are trained in visual communication, beauty, and professionalism and are necessary contributors to the web design process.

The most important purpose of a website is to communicate valuable information to the viewer. The way that the graphic designer visually organizes this information is crucial to the speed and depth in which one receives it. The average person is bombarded with so much visual communication each day that they tend to lose interest very quickly. This is why it is so important for a website to be well organized. The viewer should never be forced to sort through information, because most of the time they will not, they will only move on to a better organized website. If a graphic designer is doing his or her job correctly, the viewer will be able to instantly look at a webpage and see exactly what it is they are searching for. This greatly increases the appeal of any website.

The viewer must also be able to quickly arrive at their desired destination. Usually only a fraction of the available information is contained on the first home page of a website. Therefore, the navigation is one of the most important features because it is the gateway to the rest of the information. A designer must make the navigation easily identifiable and easy to use or the viewer will quickly feel lost. One of the most frustrating experiences for the viewer is to be confused and feel like they don’t understand how a website works. If this is the case, they will feel like the website is “not for them” and move on. It is the designers responsibility to make sure that this does not happen by creating a clearly defined navigation. No matter how clearly the information is presented, if the viewer can not access it, it serves no real purpose.

Another important principle that a graphic designer is trained to implement into a website is the use of hierarchy. This enables the client to control the focus of the viewer by making the most important aspects stand out more than others. This can greatly help the client in achieving the main goal of the website without the viewer being distracted by the less important elements on the page. This adds to the effectiveness of the page and allows the client to control the viewers experience more fully. A graphic designer is able to do this in a tactful and subtle way that is not obnoxious or annoying to the viewer.

One obvious, but often neglected, principle of a successful website is legibility. You must be able to easily read the information on a website or no viewer will stick around for more than a few seconds. Many times background images and the choice of fonts and colors can make a website much too difficult to read. No viewer should have to sit forward and strain their eyes to be able to decipher the information on a website. A graphic designer is so important because they posses the knowledge and skills to choose the proper fonts, color combinations, and placement of images that make a page pleasing to the eye. These seemingly small choices can have a huge effect on the overall effectiveness of any website.

Another important aspect of web design is beauty. People are naturally attracted to beautiful things and repel that which they find unattractive. A viewer will remain on a well designed website much longer than they will endure looking at an unattractive one. I would even go as far as to say that people will generally avoid an unattractive website even if the information contained is exactly what they are looking for. It is that important to take into account the overall charm of a site. This is not an easy task that can be obtained by just anyone without formal training. Graphic designers not only have this training but take pride in transforming the mundane things of the world into something beautiful, and for good reason.

Beauty also has the ability to create a fond and lasting memory for the viewers. Just as a stunning sunset can remain in one’s mind for months or years to come, a website beautifully displayed can have the same effect. If people have had an above average experience on a website they will be much more likely to remember it and revisit. They may even go as far as to tell their friends, bookmark the site, or navigate it’s page just for pure pleasure. People find stability in that which they find comfortable and will regularly visit their favorite websites. It is a graphic designers job to give people the most comfortable experience possible and keep them coming. This can only be done through beautiful design.

All of the principles discussed thus far combine to create a professional atmosphere for viewers. Because anyone is able to publish a website on the internet, you must set yourself apart from the competition and present yourself as more professional. There is really no way to accredit yourself as a professional organization on the internet, except through good design, and the only way to achieve good design is through a good designer. The overall look of a website is a first impression of what it has to offer. Good design communicates that a website has been carefully crafted because it has valuable information to offer.

One of the biggest problems in human relations is communication. People will go to counselors to learn how to better communicate with their spouses. Businesses have dozens of meetings weekly to communicate through projects or business deals their company is having. It only makes sense then that when a person or business really wants to communicate with their customers they use those who have been trained to reach them.

Communicating visually is something we have been doing as humans from the beginning. We see words, and words communicate ideas that can have great consequences, even lead to bloodshed. However, these words are merely shapes on a surface that the human brain gives a level of significance. As graphic designers we are trained to work with not just the shapes of words, but their hierarchy and secondary images that communicate together. We are trained to see and decipher the presentation as a whole and make sure it is communicating what our client really wants to their viewer. We need to know things like white means peace in America and war in Japan. We are more than aesthetic pleasers, we are visual communicators that read in shapes, colors, and values to convey the desired message. Communication is our training. It is what we do.

Communicating on the Web
The spectrum of visual communication extends from the printed medium to television and now to the vast space of the internet or the web. Anybody who has money for a domain name can buy a website page and with a little training put something interesting on their site.

However, a web page has two to five seconds to grab a viewer’s attention before the viewer decides if the site offers something they are interested in or not. In other words blink twice and the viewer is gone. Sure, anybody can make a website, but who is going to communicate in two to five seconds to a viewer that this website has what they want to offer? We are, and that is why smart businesses will hire smart graphic designers to make the most of their time and money.

Designing for the web
One of the fist things a designer learns is that on the web, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Just because a site is flashy, neon green, or glittery, doesn’t mean it should be. The web offers all kinds of new possibilities that the print medium is not capable of doing. For instance making words flash, or for a windshield cleaning company having a squeegee wipe the information off the screen every time a new page is brought up. Or they could design all the information to be animated and dance around the page. Designing on the web could be a real circus, but there is a reason the circus comes around maybe once a year, not everybody wants to go all the time. To put it simply, a web designer can do all kinds of stuff, which can annoy the viewer and block the real message from getting to the audience. It is all about what audience is trying to be reached. Every rule of design is used when designing in cyber space to get the right point across. The hierarchy of information, movement, color, images and relationship between elements are all analyzed and chosen carefully.

Designers should be used in the creation of a website to help decide logical navigation, and general content flow. They will help organize the information with what is most important being seen first and so on. This is how a viewer knows if the page has the information they need in two seconds, through hierarchy of information and the correct implementation of design principles.

With content decided and organized, it is important to choose the right imagery and to be consistent. Something I hear quite often is the importance of making a website experience fluid for the viewer. Each page needs to feel like it fits in and still be understandable for the viewer that jumps onto page 13 from as a result of a Google search. This is a challenge we are used to solving.

A good graphic designer will take these challenges and creatively solve them in a way that makes each site fulfill its purpose, stand out, and lastly look good. We are all attracted to things that look good, especially when our pocketbook is being influenced.

Web Technology
There are ways to test the functionality and how well a design fulfills the goals of a website, and that is through usability testing. Several studies have been done about the accuracy of usability testing and it is most accurate when the right people are being asked the right questions. For instance “the easiest website interface to use is the one that you already know.” So it wouldn’t make sense to ask current users of a website how understandable the current interface is to use when the company is trying to bring in a new audience. They should ask a new audience if the site is logical as is because the new audience hasn’t been influenced by past experiences.

When used correctly, usability testing can “hone designers’ instincts so they can spot potential usability problems and improve the designs without the cost of formal testing on every project,” according to Robert Hoekman Jr.

More testing can be expensive, and is usually implemented by companies that are already successful to discover where they can be more successful. However, like Robert Hoekman Jr. said, these tests can help designers understand the successes and failures of their work along with validating their expertise in the eyes of coworkers and clients.

In Conclusion
Good aesthetics for a website are based on more than just flash and glamour, but they will have a concept and a purpose for existing. I could go on about design principles and strategies to communicating on the web, but the most important thing to understand from this essay is that this (communicating visually) is what we as graphic designers do. We are like relationship counselors for shapes, colors and values that work together in the end to silently or not so silently persuade the consciences of our audience to use this product, go to this movie, or do whatever the goal may be.

Stick to the Basics

Teaching Web Design to a Non-Designer

Let’s face it. If someone is building a personal website for a home, Family, or business than they are most likely thinking of making the most flashy, intense site that they can.  The difficulty is that most people do not realize that simplicity, and bit of organization is more effective. Knowing some design will help accomplish this goal. First; think about a simple, consistent layout makes a site easy to follow. Next; know the code HTML and CSS are not as scary as they look. Remember typography is your best friend.  Finally; who is reading/viewing the site. Keeping these basics in mind will assist in designing a simple, effective website.

Layout,

There are a few elements of a website to set out as from the start. First; design the grid.  Six to eight frames on one page is fun to build, but will confuse the reader.  Most of the time a three column grid is popular and is all that is needed. This concept is very important that your grid stays simple, because the reader does not want to look too far to find the point of the site.  The grid will also be the frame work of the site, therefore the simpler it is the easier it will be to build the site.

When thinking of layout a designer also considers the white space of a site. This term infers that a web page should be kept light and uncluttered.  When a reader comes to a site they want to find information easily and quickly.  General sites such as About.com advise “…The reader does not want be bombarded by photos and advertisements even if those advertisements are for the website.” Keeping a site simple and to the point will be more effective and cause the reader to return again later.

Color and Graphics should also be kept in mind when deciding the effect of a website.  Color can deliver diversity, and can send a message about a person, or business, but can also serve as a distraction and annoyance to a reader.  Graphic elements can also enhance the vibrancy of the site. These are elements of a website that a first time designer should be cautious with, but afraid of them.  Web user experience research that

“…website users are powerfully influenced by aesthetics, and that positive perceptions of order, beauty, novelty, and creativity increase the user’s confidence in a site’s trustworthiness and usability. Recent design writing and interface research illustrate how visual design and user research can work together to create better user experiences on the web… that delight the eye and brain. In short: there’s lots of evidence that beauty enhances usability.” (alistapart.com)

Navigation is one of the most important elements of website layout and design. Weather it is the primary or secondary navigation it should remain in the same location for all web pages in the site. Navigation should be clear and to the point. Something as simple as changing the color of a word, or button is enough to tell a reader were to look.

Typography

Next, Type or Font, is essential to the communication of a website. Designers as a basic rule use no more than two to three different fonts on a site. By limiting the amount of fonts it keeps a web page clear and easy to read. Like graphic elements a font will communicate also David Berlow, of The font Bureau, said “I studied fine arts until I opened a drawer of metal type and realized that this was at least half of what told most stories.”(alistapart.com)  If a font hard to read because of the style and how close it spaces letters a reader find it amateur and lose confidence in the site and the designer. Remember that Sans Serif for body and Serif accompanied by large font size will help the reader find what they need simple and fast.

Know the code: XHTML/CSS

Most people in the world consider XHTML and CSS foreign languages. Yet by know, at least, what we are viewing in code will help a designer better understand the design of a website. If a designer understands how to manipulate source code can create a more effective website. There are many that choose to use a visual view only, and though it is easier to understand what is being done, we are not able to control what the software is coding for us.  Thus take the chance of stacking the code with unnecessary body that will slow down the site ability to load and transition between pages. By knowing how code works we know thus know how to organize how the source code is interacting with its partner CSS page. When it comes down to it if you do not understand source code find someone who does.

Know the Reader:

Finally, one of the most important parts of setting up a business understands your client.  They know how to target the audience so that they will gain revenue.  Websites work the same way. A designer is not going to design site for a retirement home and design the layout, font, and language to target a fifth grader. When considering a website a designer collects research, both empirical, and  quantitative, thus they are able know and understand how to design a website that will make a reader return and utilize the site repeatedly.

These are some of the basics of design that will help make an effective, clean, simple website. Understanding the Layout of the site will help project a knowledgeable understanding of business and a quality product.  Know the font used will help forward the idea and the customer base the designer want to attract.  Being knowledgeable about source code and CSS will help manipulate the design of site to attract the desired clientele. Researching who will see the site will help shape a website and that knowledge will assist in bring about the desired results of the site.  These simple, basic elements of designing on the web will help make an effective website.  So stick to the basics.

alistapart. com,

Visual Decision Making, Lynch, Patrick –    http://www.alistapart.com/articles/visual-decision-making/on

Real Fonts on the Web: An Interview with The Font Bureau’s David Berlow, Zeldman, Jeffrey – http://www.alistapart.com/articles/realfontsontheweb/

about.com, Basics of Web Design, Kyrnin, Jennifer – http://webdesign.about.com/od/webdesigntutorials/a/aa070504.htm

There is a lot of confusion when it comes to graphic design and even design in general. When people I know find out that I’m going into graphic design, they each start giving me a different definition of what it is. Some will say, “Oh so you make logos and stuff” and others think you just make business cards and stationary. I think it’s about time to tell people the real story when it comes to graphic design and why it’s becoming increasingly more so when it comes to the web.

I think it’s kind of funny how people think about design and the ideas that come into their heads about it. I am guilty of this as well, when I hear someone say web design, I along with a lot of other people, think about coding, links, and bad type. There is web design and what people think is web design and being a graphic designer I get misunderstanding and want to know what it really is. It’s not that much different from graphic design except for the fact that you are doing it on the web which is unique and can’t just be thrown together. There are a number of challenges when it come to the web like the massive scope of the web itself, to the immense amount of clutter that’s out their, and technological aspects of it like coding languages and so forth.

The web in its early was very static and uniform. Most sites would just have endless lines of text that were thrown on with out any thought and if there were any pictures or graphics, they would be these hideous little clip art images. Generally the internet of the past was slow, clunky, and not a very interesting place to be. There wasn’t a lot of thought when it came to the design when it came web pages, they were all very boring and poorly laid out, but whether it be from technical limitations or just growing pains, the web now is nearly unrecognizable from it’s early self. The limitations that once hindered it, now seem to all but disappeared. It has become more and more interactive, a web site is no longer just a single page with just type to a site that changes and reacts to what you do with it. The world of the web is changing; it’s becoming boundless and more complex. It’s no longer the day where you can just put your message on a site and expect people to get it and be interested in it. You have to think about every little thing you do anymore, from where your navigation goes, how your type looks, or how your page will look when people first come to it. So what does graphic have to do with any of this? Most graphic designers aren’t exactly the most technical people in the world, and when it comes to numbers it’s like a vampire reacting to a cross. But while web and graphic design are different in many ways, there is one thing they both are trying to accomplish. Communication.

Besides thinking you just make logos and business cards, a lot of people think that graphic design is all about making something pretty. I was taking a class awhile back about the history of graphic design and illustration. One day my teacher gave us one of the best examples of design and communication, he told us that some of the best examples of this can be found almost everywhere in our day to day lives and we just don’t even think about it twice. We see these in the buildings we work in and the roads we drive to get where ever we’re going. What he’s talking about is the sign that tells us that we need to merge, that we are driving in a school zone, which restroom is the one we are going to use. That’s when it hit me, that these little unnoticeable little symbols are what graphic design is all about and that is communication.

What makes these symbols so powerful is how they are able to communicate such relatively complex tasks and information into something can be read and understood regardless of where you come from or what language you speak. That to me is why I agree that this is what graphic design is all about. People just put these symbols in the back of their thoughts and just forget about it. They don’t even think to wonder about why they think handicapped when they a half a circle and a line or that a fork and knife me there are places to eat. It just comes natural to people and I feel that is what graphic design is why it is so important. It’s about being able to communicate your message in way that can easily be recognized by the masses. And with the internet be able to connect all sorts of different peoples and cultures from around the world, the role of graphic design is becoming increasingly more important.

Nowadays it’s not just signs on the road that tell us where to go, but there is another important and increasingly used highway of information and we will need signs and symbols that will be able to guide us through in a way that is efficient, safe, and recognizable to everyone. I mean think about it, why do most people put up sites or visit the web? Most if not all of them go to the web to able to communicate and whether it be to sell you something or you just want to tell people how your day went.

So you see, design is all about communication. We need to break down this misconception that most people have when it come graphic design and design in general. Design is something that can be used in ways regardless of it being as something as small as a poster to something as big as a building. It’s not something that has a generally excepted definition or even a simple one. But when someone come up to me and asks what I do with graphic design, I will tell them I communicate ideas, and to me that’s all design is. Communication.

For a long time I never thought the title “web design” was remotely equivalent to “graphic design.” In fact, the idea of a web designer seemed to me as someone who knew how to program a site and to make it functional online. I was completely wrong. There is so much more to web design that allows the word “design” to grow to it’s full potential.

A Brief History
First we need to look at what graphic design is in our day in age. Easily put, graphic design is the use of balance, contrast, emphasis, proportion, proximity, repetition, color, light, texture and many other elements to create a work of digital art that is pleasing to the eye. From that definition we can see that graphic design is simply using hierarchy to share particular information in a way that the reader can understand and enjoy. As I was looking at the history of graphic design and trying to apply it to web design, I found some interesting information that ties graphic design and web design together.

Grids
Grids are structure imposed on chaos. You must always have a grid structure when working with any form of design. It’s interesting to see that only recently, web developers and designers are using a grid system in their sites. I have seen the web as a very “boxy” medium and I almost feel like you can’t break the grid when working in the web. Steven Snell describes using grids by saying,

“Designers of all types (web, print, etc.) are constantly facing issues involving the structure of their designs. Web designers are increasingly turning to grids to control the structure of web pages, and grids have long been used extensively in other design mediums. For many designers, grid-based design is still somewhat of a mystery.”

I think that this makes graphic design along with web design very exciting. We are still learning how to communicate and it allows us to continue to grow.

Solving Problems
Now that I’ve discussed the need for a grid, we need to understand that graphic design is not just organized information into a grid, but it’s much more than that. Through several years of experience as a graphic design student at Brigham Young University–Idaho, I have found that the graphic design industry has a plethora of jobs and skill sets. In fact, I’ve had a difficult time choosing the thing that I must enjoy in graphic design.

Graphic design can be easily describes and “making something look pretty.” I can agree with that statement. But it is also communicating something beyond just looking nice. There can be so many hidden jewels in a work that requires someone to look beyond what they see, but to intellectualize the ideas that are being portrayed. Everything in a graphic design work should come together in perfect harmony within the piece. An article by Greg Quinton states,

“Graphic design is about solving problems using design to communicate the solution. The solution can be subjective and there is always more than one option, but selecting the right one can make a real and positive difference. If a picture can say a thousand words, imagine how many words a well-designed poster could communicate. It could convey a message that will stay in the mind for years.”

What makes a Graphic Designer
When going into the work place, there are several things that need to be addressed. I would first like to discuss the idea that a graphic designer needs to communicate not only in print and web, but also in person. When getting a job or meeting with a client, people skills are essential. How is it possible to sell your work of art without selling yourself in the process? Your work should describe you and you should describe your work. This can be done through trust and respect.

In today’s world graphic design is perceived by many as being a fun, artsy, stress-free job where you sit and draw pretty pictures all day. The truth of the matter is, graphic design isn’t always so glamorous, and it certainly isn’t a ride in the park. Like any job, the days can be long and the workload piled up to the ceiling. You must put yourself in this situation as someone who can handle himself or herself well. You must be flexible and will to work with others. Anyone can use Photoshop, or Illustrator, but you need to show your boss or your client that you can use it well.
Combine the Elements
Throughout the research of this paper I found a quote that helps me to see how a real graphic designer is born. It says, “A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.” This was written by Louis Nizer. Reading into that quote a little more I found that a designer, whether it be in web or print must put more than just the organization on the page, but must use his ideas to coordinate with his feelings to create a masterpiece. And what is a masterpiece?

It gives the person who sees the work an experience that communicates exactly what you wanted them to see. The last few months I have seen in a new light since I began designing for the web. It’s a different medium, and I think is a different industry all together. But I can also say that the same principles of graphic design and visual communication are being used in the web, and it takes a real graphic designer to use them correctly and allow the reader to accurately understand what is being taught.

In Conclusion

The industry is changing and we need to be on board. The web is become an even greater resourse for good graphic design. This will allow us to build our portfolios and jump on the train to new ideas and media.

What are you talking about?

Designers are seen at times as someone that can come into a project in its final stages and make it look “good”. You can’t blame their misunderstanding of the designer’s role too much. Photoshop jockeys are running rampant in the streets. Everyone has an uncle, brother or someone that, “knows photoshop and illustrator. Hundreds of people doctor photos as a hobby and declare with confidence that they are “designers”. The availability of software and the amount of tutorials on-line on “how to’s”, are making a generation of pessimist who view the design industry as unnecessary.

So how does a designer get past the stigma that society in general holds against them? As with any change, in starts with the designers themselves. When speaking with co-workers or clients what kind of language is being used? Do we talk about how great the machines we use are and why? Do we talk about some new brush or technique we just learned about? How about how excited you are about the typeface that’s changing your life? If this is the case your just fueling the fires of misunderstanding. Too many times we forget where we are and who we’re speaking with.

Designers are problem solvers and idea generators. They visualize and execute ideas after they’ve been thought out, planned, and sketched out. The time spent at the computer is usually the easiest and least time consuming step they take. So why does it get brought into the conversations so much. What we talk about with our friends, family and associates will generate societies general understanding of what designers do.  If we are animated about an idea, concept or message and are sharing that with others we are not only perpetuating that we’re not just tools on the computer, but we are also improving on our future designs.

In my experience, when I share ideas with people I get great feedback. I get a feeling of whether or not people are understanding the principles behind what is driving a project. They ask questions that show gaps in my thought process and presentation, not to mention showing me the questions that I’m forgetting to ask. The more I share the faster I’m able to fix problems or avoid them altogether.

Translation please?

So as a designer your brought onto a team with a bunch of individuals who do not speak designer. In fact, most of the time they not only misunderstand you, but each other as well. Your copy writer doesn’t get the concerns of the business representative and he most certainly doesn’t understand the opinions of the programmers who seem to be murmuring things in clicks and pops. After the formal, “hi, my name is”, where do you start? Listen… Not the debate type of listening were your ready to cut in with your own opinion at the first opportunity. And most definitely not the type of listening that puts a sketch pad in your hands not to take notes with, but to doodle on.

It seems that listening is one of the most underdeveloped skills practiced in any industry. Being in an information age where most questions can be answered with a the click of a button, its no wonder that diverse teams are often wondering what went wrong to hold up a project. As the designer on a project, you’ll be working on campaigns while keeping in mind all the various pieces involved. The message of the marketer and the usability that the programmers have in mind, are just a few examples of the constraints your working with. That said, you’d better become a proficient translator. While other parts of your team may get away with being misunderstood between one another, a designer has no such luxury. You should be the most efficient communicator on any team, acting liaison for all parties involved. Its not just for your layout either. You should be able to go to your business rep after a meeting with your copy writer and put into his terminology their concerns and opinions. Essentially your weaving the fabric of opinions that will be the canvas of your designs. By becoming that central communicator you will not only produce designs that will get shot down less, but you’ll be seen as absolutely indispensable on any team.

Make it popular…

Clients are the force behind our business and something that most of them have in common is the want to have their campaign be, “cool”. Whatever trend is out there, whether it be that cheesy new typeface or some psychedelic color… If its popular, they want it. So how do you help your client not hit their own self destruct button? It all comes back to ideas and speaking their language.

Most clients don’t know what they really want out of a campaign. Whether its a poster series, web site or TV commercial all they are really sure of is that they want their message out there in front of the most people possible. Beyond that well, thats why they hired you right? If you commence a project with a client that has this attitude you’ll be doomed to dozens of redesigns and mountains of frustration. So when you sit down with a client for the very first time it is essential that you get them talking about their idea. It won’t be a big surprise if its not a very well developed idea. Your there to help them develop something for their business right? Get them talking about how their business started, some of the challenges and successes they’ve had, or anything else about their business. You’ll find that these threads of conversation will begin to eek out of the wood work that which your really there for in the first place… The message they want to get out.

Once you’ve discovered what your client is really trying to say everything gets much easier. From the conversations you’ve had, you’ll already have some sort of history about their business and what things have worked for them in the past. You’ll know what kind of customers they have coming in, and a good idea about who they want to start coming in. Repeating back to them what you think their answers are to all these important questions will assist you in speaking each client’s language.

Once you have their language down its a whole lot easier to present your designs. By presentation time you should already have a vast library of reference materials from them that will help support your decisions. When they ask “why didn’t you use <insert color here>”, you can more confidently explain to them how their message wouldn’t have been as effective as your showing it presently. Of course your still not going to win every battle, but your success rate should rise dramatically. This way of working with clients will also help them understand that your not just a guy that sits down and doodles some magic answer thats the key to their business success. Your the person who helps them communicate with the public in a way that will promotes their business instead of having it blend in with everyone elses.

When asked what classes I’m in and I explain a beginning web design class, the common response, “Cool, so you are going to learn how to do flash and stuff?” My response, a quick “no”, usually results in a sudden loss of interest.

The purpose of graphic design is to solve problems, get the point across and communicate in the simplest visual form, not just to look pretty or “cool”. When applied to the web, design should improve functionality, gain site credibility and trustworthiness through an aesthetic approach.

The web, originally created as a form of communication, continues to explore different communicating methods. In theory, web design has existed as long as the internet itself (early 90′s) even if it was just created straight through a developer. The first considered web designer was Tim Berners-Lee who developed the first website in 1991 with hyperlinks, allowing easy navigation (Web Design). Even though just a simple site with header, footers and navigation, websites greatly improved communication. Basic HTML markup was used at first then, when cascading style sheets (CSS) began to be applied to websites, it allowed greater flexibility for web design, allowing images, graphs and charts. Designing for the web really didn’t take off until then.

Since the internet has continued to grow in popularity, web design has become more and more competitive. In order to stand out and be recognized, most people instantly think big, loud, flashy. However, eye tracking studies conclude that large graphic elements attract few “gaze fixations” (Visual Decision Making). Most important in good design, whether it be web, print, motion, etc. is functionality. How do you navigate through the site? Tim Berners-Lee, allowing web navigation through hyperlinks, even though just through basic HTML, greatly improved the functionality of the internet itself. It became interactive, it became an interactive aesthetic experience.

“There have always been designers who have not mainly been interested in making beautiful images, but solving problems following a more analytical approach. Often, however, the analytically derived solutions have lacked in finesse — they simply weren’t attractive. This schism still exists when it comes to web design: business consultants may define the problem well, but don’t care what the visual solution looks like. Engineers as well as programmers tend to use the constraints of the backend implementation to deny designers the freedom to explore more exciting graphics, interesting interfaces or surprising visuals. Who, then, is equipped to formulate good information design for the web?”

Designers and developers need to work hand in hand to create an optimal website. Developers tend to think more logistically and designers more creatively. The marrying of these two disciplines is optimal in the birth of a website. It is important for non designers to understand that design (web or other) is necessary. It isn’t just fluff, a good designer will undoubtedly create a credibility and trustworthiness.

WORKS CITED

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design#Historyhttp://www.innervisions.com.au/webhistory/first.html

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.htmlhttp://www.aiga.org
/content.cfm/information-design-on-the-web?searchtext=web%20design

http://www.innervisions.com.au/webhistory/first.html

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html

Designing for the web is more than just making something look beautiful. It involves creating an experience for the user where he or she can interact easily and respond through the process of communication.

Confusing Design
During my last semester of college, I was able to have a very eye-opening experience participating in a practicum for communication students called i-Comm. This was a class where students create and implement marketing and design strategies for local clients as well as maintain a campus newspaper called The Scroll. Being a graphic design major, I naturally chose the role of designer for these various clients and in the process I learned a lot about how bad design happens and why.

I had the to opportunity to design many small newspaper ads. These ads were usually limited on the design end, most of them being black and white and only taking up a few inches of space. And what I found was that clients continually seemed to think that the ads I was creating for them were too boring. They wanted centered text with four different decorative typefaces and polka dots in the background.

And then my eyes were opened. The client wanted the ad to stand out in a way that would ignore the basic principles of design and in the process, make the information a nightmare to decipher. They just didn’t understand that combining Comic Sans with Papyrus would not create hierarchy, only confusion. This is a very simple example of how ignoring design can actually hurt the communication process, and this was just for a small piece of print. Imagine how much more important of a role design plays in a situation where the user must not only read text, but must also navigate and find what the client wants him or her to find.

Why it Matters
The question to address then is why good design – or aesthetic – matters so much. There is a misconception that many of us have probably heard of that the role of designers is to make things pretty based on adherence to basic design principles and what “feels right”. What these statements fail to address is the connection between how something looks and how it communicates.

Aesthetics and Communication
Designing an interface for the web is not as simple as it looks. The designer must be concerned not just with how the interface looks visually but also with how it communicates to the user; in other words, how the user responds to it and uses it. So how does design affect the usability and user-friendliness of a website?

First, we must understand that designing is not decorating. Graphic design is not a fine art and it did not evolve into what it is simply because artists wanted to make things beautiful using new mediums. It became what it is because there was a need for it. In the early history of graphic design, posters, advertisements, and magazines all became the primary forms of communication to larger audiences. People were discovering that everything – from the size of a headline in relation to the body copy, to the type of imagery used – affected how people responded to and understood information. In short, they discovered that communication could be enhanced or diminished depending on how it was presented visually. So although designers are concerned with basic design principles and do make aesthetic choices, for the most part these choices are based on a knowledge of how users respond to and interpret different elements.

Taking this into consideration, it is clear that graphic design itself enhances communication and therefore, its role in web design is to communicate through user-interaction and experience. That is not to say that because an element is designed to communicate something specific, it can’t be designed better.

There is a good, better, and best in design. A website can be good; it can communicate that there are links which indicate clearly that they are a form of navigation. The site can be well laid out and organized and have a clear hierarchy of information. A website can be better; it can use those same principles and add to them. The links may look like buttons that could be physically pushed. Or, a website can be best. It can have navigation that is pleasant to look at and therefore more usable. It can feel like one, consistent piece that embodies a friendly, professional tone that is inviting to the user.

Although graphic designers are first and foremost concerned with communicating the intended message, by successfully implementing good design – not decorating – they make the message that much more inviting and usable.

Interaction Design
There is a reason that web designers often call themselves interaction or experience designers. It is because the whole process of visiting a website – clicking through different pages, searching for information, posting a comment – is an experience to the user. It is with this knowledge in mind that designers make creative choices about a site’s design. What should matter the most to the client and the designer is the visitor who goes to the client’s page.

How can design either help or interfere with a user’s experience when they visit a site? If a link looks too similar to the regular text on a page, then the likelihood that it will be clicked on is less. On the other hand, if a main navigation link is too loud and different, it may distract the user from other important content. Design can also invoke emotional responses from the user. The look and feel of a site can say, “We are a professional company that gets things done for you.” Or it can say, “We’re really not a legitimate company.”

Recently, I visited a website that was created by a professor to promote a free e-book that he wrote. The information itself was great and very useful. But navigating his website was confusing. The text was hard to read and the information was not very well organized. The design itself was not thought-out or even inviting. After viewing the site, I thought, “Wow, this would be a great website if it was just better designed.” Simply because this site was not well designed, the information – which should have been the most important aspect of the web site – was ignored.

The role of the interaction designer is to look at a site’s design as if he were the user. He must ask questions like, “If someone just found a random sub-section of this site through a search engine, could they still navigate easily and find any information they were looking for? Does the sidebar information take dominance over my main content? Do my in-text links disappear in the context of the whole page?” Asking questions like these solve problems and result in aesthetic choices – the same choices that so many people say are based solely on design principles and whether it “feels right.”

The Beauty of Communication
The fact is, aesthetics and communication are linked. Beauty cannot, and should not, be separated from communication and function. Our minds are drawn to things that are beautiful. This fact affects the clothes we wear, the cars we buy, and also how we navigate a website and what our perception is of the company after we interact with the website. Designers do not just decorate websites. They design them in a way that communicates to the user and when this is done successfully, it is inherently beautiful. That’s just what works.