My what?!
Those of us in the web design and development fields have a total crush on ourselves. As I was called the other day, we are divas. Our design senses are keen and superior. Our development skills witty and crafty. But there’s one huge problem to this love affair.
No one cares.
No, no one cares about our work. We just make websites. That thing you’re working on is just a website. It’s no big deal.
What people are excited about is never about our work. Sure, we love to aggrandize each other within our field. But our users don’t give a crap. When I hit up espn.com several times a day, I don’t marvel at the design innovation being put forth, or the amazing logo work, or the stupid grid. I check how Kobe did last night. And freak, baseball is about to start. Never have I pulled up ESPN and critiqued the thing. I don’t care about espn.com. I care about Kobe.
This is why website design seems to have no impact or correlation to traffic or popularity. It’s because it doesn’t. It’s about the content. It’s about the utility. It’s about what the users want to see and do, and how kickass you make them at some small part of their life.
Design’s one role
Design does play one large part in the success of a product or service. It can get in the way. Does it matter if your button is blue or green? Does it matter how heavy a bevel you’ve put on there? Does it matter how many lines of code your jQuery is? No! It does matter if people can’t find your content, or if they can’t find your Twitter link, or if your order button is nowhere to be found.
A few examples
Gary Vaynerchuck is a master of personal branding, self promotion, and using social media to further your message. And he loves design. In his book Crush It!, the only service he recommends purchasing is web design. But check out his site. It’s no modern marvel of design excellence. Is it poor? Not at all. It’s perfectly adequate. It’s actually leagues ahead of most websites, and it works. It gets out of your way so you can absorb his message and make a connection with him. Perfect.
My old friend Cameron Moll hasn’t changed his website in ages. It’s way too old for him to call himself a real designer, right? He didn’t even do all the work on Authentic Jobs himself! Fact is, the man’s a genius. It’s just a website. The real money’s in his content, and people eat up anything upon which Cameron deigns to letterpress Bickham Script Pro. He’s pure gold, and has nothing to do with his site.
Jeffrey Zeldman is the father of web standards and the reason many of us got into web design. His website is a huge orange creamsicle. It’s even a little gaudy. But hell if it doesn’t stay out of your way while you eat up every word that comes out of his mouth. And he’s built a business pumping out excellent websites that do the same.
Google is a better web designer than you are
Another example is how stupid we can get with our website architecture. A few months ago Jason Fried mentioned that he preferred Google’s version of your site to your real site. If you search for any major website or company on Google, you’ll find a handful of helpful links right under their website link. I can assume this is pulled from Google’s vast data on which pages of your site their users are most likely to search for and find.
A search for Comcast reveals the following:
In contrast, a quick look at their real website shows us a different view of what they think is important to you:
What a mess! Google is doing a better job of knowing what Comcast users want than they are themselves. Literally, 8 links with no pictures is way more useful than this branded page with all sorts of links and advertisements. Check your own site. Chances are, Google is doing it better.
Which means, your stupid website doesn’t matter. We, our customers, clients, and partners, are taking our websites way too seriously. It’s just a website! Figure out what information your users need, and figure out how to get it online without screwing it up.
What to do about it
My point is, stop taking yourselves so seriously. Yes, make your work beautiful. Do whatever you have to do to keep your designer title and still sleep well at night. But stop thinking you’re God’s gift to the internet, and stop mulling over design decisions for days and days when the most basic solution will do just fine. It’s just a website, and it’s going to be alright.
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+1 Thank you for having some balls and giving your opinion. Very true, one the best posts i have read this month and i can totally relate.
What is good design is the question I’m left with here. The whole point of design is communication. The majority of the sites (Comcast excluded) are great examples of effective communication. Web “designers” need to quit thinking that design is taking a grunge brush and adding a million layers and realize that all design does is foster communication. That’s what good design is. Based on that definition, putting together a good design is critical, especially if it is going to compete with other sites that are easier to use. We all need to quit thinking that design is polishing a turd. It starts with good content and then presenting that content in an effective way.
I put a lot of work in to my website and I really do like it. Funny thing is, I get hired because someone has referred me, found me on an online directory or via a professional organization I belong to. It’s never because they went to my website and fell in love with it. Most of the time I get hired and the client has never checked out my website. Probably never will. All they care about is that I design and develop websites and I make my clients happy. And I’m stressing to clients all the time iit’s all about content and has nothing to do with bling. Bling gets in the way of content. Period.
Thank you for a refreshing point of view on the subject. I’m putting my tiara in the closet now.
What a load of crap. A good design does its job by staying out of the way, and delivering the content in a usable way. You don’t notice the design on ESPN.com because its doing what it was intended to do.
“No one cares” because the average user is ignorant of the design efforts that went into the site. We might be called “divas” by people who think what we do is trivial… until its gone. Turn off the style sheets on ESPN.com and I’ll bet you’ll be surprised to find out who cares.
Kristin, don’t take my post to mean you can’t rock some bling. That tiara sounds rad. Style is a huge part of content for sure. ESPN has my attention because of their brand and their attitude — which is critical to content. Sports Illustrated just doesn’t have it in the same way in my opinion. So keep the tiara. Just make sure what’s underneath it is worth the attention your shiny bling brings.
Cody and others, I’m not trying to say design is pointless. Of course espn.com needs a stylesheet. My point is that website is just one key to its ultimate goal to flood the world with sports. Often we let the details of our designs and sites to overwhelm the master goals at hand. What we do surely isn’t trivial, but the best contribution we make is hardly aesthetic.
John, love this: “We all need to quit thinking that design is polishing a turd.” Perfect.
Well, Cody has a good point :-)
You also forget the “design” process is more than just choosing color or shapes. It’s about organizing or RE-organizing the information. Most designer don’t do that or are called to late in the process. The briefing is “we have this and that menu, each one containing 15 items, please make this look good”. of course he will fail, whatever he tries. The information design was bad and he’s just being asked to decorate the website.
A solar powered torch without batteries will always be useless, whatever color or shape you give to it. Same for websites.
haha – great post Jason. Enjoyed the read.
I agree with the general sentiment of this post as well as a Cody’s devil’s advocate points. Design does have a role, sometimes it’s more emphasized than others, while sometimes it’s role is to almost not exist a la Google.
The beauty in design is either in a) how it helps you achieve a goal, or b) how it stays out of the way. To say no one pays attention or cares is just not true. Bad UX exposes design flaws to everyone. That’s partly why Facebook always makes such a huff when they tweak their design. It’s not just the design community that cries foul, it’s the users.
Lastly, one of more direct impact of design… the first impression. Before I read a meaningful sentence, or let great copy soak into my brain my first act is to judge. Judge the credibility of the company or person the website represents. So if you don’t care about your design, I – the user, might not care about what your design is meant to support. Your message and content.
2 cents
Great! I think some people need to read this before they get caught up in tweaking tiny aesthetic details ahead of deciding their content strategy.
Antoine, I agree with you, I also judge people on first impressions. But most people don’t give a crap. My wife reads all sorts of blogs that she admits are horribly designed. She doesn’t care. But she can sniff out very quickly if the blog is worth anything. Same with most other sites. Yes, aesthetics matter. But it’s not the only thing, and too often we put that above the content, the brand, and the emotion.
I see your point and I agree to some extent, especially about taking yourself too serious. After all, they say design should be invisible.
However, going the extra mile on design/code can sometimes be the difference between gaining an audience or not having one… Obviously you need to back it up with good content.
First impression is a big deal IMO, specially if your product or image is not well known or you are new to the scene.
Haven’t we all come across a website that impressed us? maybe it was the design, maybe the awesome markup or js or css that was used, or maybe it was the actual content… either way you get hooked if only for a little while… maybe you subscribe to the RSS feed and see if any good content will come of it.
The samples you listed are of sites that are already well known and have lots of content and an audience built up, so it’s easy to say in those cases that the actual website design doesn’t matter.
Alex, great points, and I agree with a lot of that.
Have you really been hooked on a site because of its great markup?
And those sites are well established, but they’ve been that way for ages. Gary V’s site has always been a tumblr site, with just enough style to be engaging. Same with Cameron and Zeldman and a thousand others. Just enough style to get crap done.
I really have nothing against designing great websites. I just think we take it too seriously, and often miss the whole point of a site — to actually make someone’s life better or easier or cooler.
[...] you should go over and read Jason Lynes’s article No one cares about your website. There are a couple of messages he seems to be trying to get across and many of them seem to blend [...]
Great post Jason, I agree. Craigslist isn’t so sexy, unless you think that usability is sexy. In which case it’s a bombshell.
Agree with the turd-polishing sentiment as well; far to long have we been working under this yoke…. rise up!
I’ve always enjoyed the idea that the best designs are the ones that go unnoticed. The Google example does a great a job at this.
I’ve never really enjoyed reading content heavy websites. It’s not that I don’t like to read, it’s that each website decides how they’d like to present the information and sometimes it’s poorly done or even overdone.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to see more exploration within the community on ways to simplify and maybe even standardize experiences like this?
Great read, and a good pep talk for me as I begin a major rebuild of our college’s website (finally getting rid of our creaky custom-built CMS and moving to Drupal).
Very true and well said. Content is king and design is a bit of a princess. :)
What an awesome post. I was actually coming out with a blog post (video) about being yourself. It’s a continuation of a blog post that Cameron Moll wrote called “Do What Works for You, Not Them”. It touched on a lot of points that somewhat relates to this post. I think as designers, we’re so caught up in design/code, whether or not you’re using tables vs. divs or you’re using a Mac vs. PC or you’re using Photoshop vs. Adobe Fireworks. These are silly things that I see being discussed among the design community constantly. I’ve been designing now for a little over 14 years. Based on the what the majority of people say in my industry, I shouldn’t be a designer. Why, because I use a PC, I don’t use Photoshop and I still use Tables when I code. But I’ve built sites that have made tens of millions of dollars for several companies. To your point, you’re right….no one cares about the code. To go further, no one cares about which application or computer you use. They want content. I totally get what you’re saying and agree 100%. The end user, consumer wants to get in and get out. They want to use our sites to complete a purchase, download a form, interact with people, etc. Does that mean we forget about clean design and a great user interface, no. Those things still matter. Beauty and aesthetics still matter to some point, but content will trump a clean design any day. I always tell people. You can go to template monster and purchase an awesome design for $50 bucks. But translating that website into a converting machine doesn’t come from design at all. It comes from great marketing, creativity and great content, period.
Great post, love it! ;)
Applause, applause, applause. We’re (CreativeXpert podcast) interviewing @halvorson this week to discuss Content Strategy. I’m going to bring-up this post, if you don’t mind. :)
Alan, please do! @halvorson is exactly the kind of fresh thinking I’m talking about. Solid content strategy will win every time. What you’re saying is way more important that what font it’s in.
Cool Jason. You can count on it, and we’ll link back here.
Questions/comments for the show (taping 2/25pm), send them here or leave a message on 317-57-CREATE
Sorry for the speed-bump!
The sad part is, if we do our job well, 99% of our work won’t be worthy of a portfolio spot. I’m doing my job well.
Eric, it depends on who your portfolio is for. Is it for designers, or clients?
I think that you have hit the nail on the head! Fundamentally, we have lost sight of what design is. Ask an engineer what design is and they’ll tell you that to design is to solve problems. And they are right. Our job as a designer is first and foremost to solve the problems our clients come to us with. However, we are expected to do this elegantly. People will notice when your design is bad; be flattered when they don’t notice it at all, it means you have done your job well.
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Despite what others may believe, you’ve made a solid point. I think some designers come only from the standpoint of having a design blog or portfolio, they’re not there for the changes throughout the years that regular companies encounter to figure out how to sell to their customer.
I think only other designers appreciate your work because they understand the revolutionary genius behind it…but the GENERAL public however, doesn’t care. That’s why they want to pay designers 50 bucks for $5000 job. If they understood they wouldn’t debate the price, time, and effort..
You can sell yourself better than any of your work–I’ve seen way too many beginner designers with a full portfolio just because they know how to speak.
Design is ultimately the component of an entire marketing plan. Research, planning, designing and execution result in the success and feedback you’re looking for.
I kind of agree with this. It’s an argument that’s been done many times before, about architecture, product design, graphic design, and now web design. It comes down to this – form and function. There has to be a balance of both in every truly successful design. The idea that nobody cares is also old, but true. In advertising we used to say we were creating ‘tomorrow’s chip paper’ (you’ll get that if you’re British). It keeps you in mind of what you’re really doing instead of getting caught up in a creative whirlpool of self importance and stress about the client ‘changing things’. And whoever said good design is the stuff that doesn’t get noticed – bang on. The public doesn’t care, that’s true, but they instinctively know if something’s good or bad, if it works or if it doesn’t. They don’t need to know why. So we still have to do a good job, just not get too obsessed with it.
Mark, excellently said. I love this:
Hate to admit it but its true, I too have a little folder with nearly a hundred designs I have done, I even named the folder “MY MINT DESIGNS”. However as nice as the designs are, a few of the customers have gone out of buiness etc and this must be really to do with their content etc not my design.
I think the statement “no one cares” is a little harsh, some people do, and people can definately spot a very poor website.
[...] readers misunderstood my last post to mean I was anti-design, or anti-aesthetic. My point couldn’t be further from the truth [...]
I think the quote: ‘The public doesn’t care, that’s true, but they instinctively know if something’s good or bad, if it works or if it doesn’t. They don’t need to know why. So we still have to do a good job, just not get too obsessed with it.’ is giving too much credit to the public. Have you seen this?
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_wants_to_be_your_one_true_login.php#comment-187498
An article that made it to number 1 spot on Google when you search for ‘Facebook’. One look at the comments proves that the public don’t instinctively know anything really. They can’t even recognise that they’re on an entirely different site. Dozens of pages of comments too.
I’m of the thinking that an article like this is intended to create interest with its tabloid-esque, sensationalist headline, the kind of thing guaranteed to be tweeted all round the world and result in plenty of hits. So for that, congrats.
What this article boils down to is a message to designers who are very inexperienced or are basically not very good. Essentially, stop using filters/bevels/drops shadows/any other effect ad infinitum to try and make your poor design, with its shocking typography and horrendous layout, look better than it is.
To suggest that the most basic solution is fine and that Google is a better designer than many me (and many others) is, as I mentioned, sensationalist nonsense and utterly ludicrous.
Haha Martin, you might be right. I tend to give the great unwashed to benefit of the doubt in the hope that everyone out there isn’t completely stupid, but they keep proving me wrong.
“What this article boils down to is a message to designers who are very inexperienced or are basically not very good. Essentially, stop using filters/bevels/drops shadows/any other effect ad infinitum to try and make your poor design, with its shocking typography and horrendous layout, look better than it is.”
I agree with that. There are way too many “How to make great looking glass ball icons to polish your turd of a website” articles out there. But not many “How about learning some design and typography basics before you inflict your horrible site onto the unsuspecting world?” ones.
PS
Jason – glad you liked what I wrote. I think that’s the first time anyone’s ever quoted me. Cheers.
Martin – like the work.
Enjoyed the article… It’s a logo and a search field. It is often clients who want something flashy, they forget that making it logical and intuitive for users is more important.
I ofter illustrate this point by telling clients Google.com is the best example of simplicity and it is the most used website in the world. I also explain that while I want them to like their site, it is much more important if their target market uses it to do what we want them to do.
[...] No one cares about your website [...]
Most of the sites you mentioned have built credibility with time, and word to mouth, and I don’t think any of them have bad designs necessarily, a bit outdated sure, but they are minimalist.
If someone stumbled onto your site that had a bad design, they would not spend the time to get into your content and see how great it was. Its sad but we all still judge a book by its cover! Your web design is the first thing a new visitor sees.
I also agree with Cody “You don’t notice the design on ESPN.com because its doing what it was intended to do.”
Designing something simple is the hardest thing to do. As I like to say “To arrive at true simplicity, one must travel a complicated road.”
Great read though, thanks for sharing!
Read a book; learn the nature of a word and use it well.
Design is the planning that lays the basis for the making of every object or system. It can be used both as a noun and as a verb and, in a broader way, it means applied arts and engineering.
As a verb, “to design” refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or component with intention[1]. As a noun, “a design” is used for either the final (solution) plan (e.g. proposal, drawing, model, description) or the result of implementing that plan in the form of the final product of a design process. This classification aside, in its broadest sense no other limitations exist and the final product can be anything from clothing to graphical user interfaces to skyscrapers. Even virtual concepts such as corporate identity and cultural traditions such as celebration of certain holidays are sometimes designed. More recently, processes (in general) have also been treated as products of design, giving new meaning to the term process design.
The person designing is called a designer, which is also a term used for people who work professionally in one of the various design areas, usually also specifying which area is being dealt with (such as a fashion designer, concept designer or web designer). Designing often requires a designer to consider the aesthetic, functional, and many other aspects of an object or a process, which usually requires considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and re-design. With such a broad definition, there is no universal language or unifying institution for designers of all disciplines. This allows for many differing philosophies and approaches toward the subject. However, serious study of design demands increased focus on the design process.
A good designer knows the value of content, and every thing else that makes today’s tools work to your advantage… color, form, function accessibility, demographics and practical feed back all just tools… they need to be used intelligently for a project to be successful…
C
[...] No one cares about your website Those of us in the web design and development fields have a total crush on ourselves. As I was called the other day, we are divas. Our design senses are keen and superior. Our development skills witty and crafty. But there’s one huge problem to this love affair. [...]
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[...] No either Cares almost Your Website is a almighty airing almost the glibness of expedient encompassing whether a website cog’s exacerbate not. [...]
Mr Lynes! You’re back!
How long have you been back blogging?… Probably years, which should tell you how far from the industry I’ve been since giving birth to that two-year-old who lives with us today.
Just wanted to say hi. I’m glad you’re back, because posts like this are exactly what I still like to read related to my old job. You’re always right on the money… I no longer have time to agonize over design details. But I’m no role model. Just a mom, putting together personal web sites on just the few hours my husband can take care of the kid (not many).
[web design] is one of the jobs that if done correctly, remains hidden. When I was in the sound booth for the school play, I had to make sure everything was flawless. If I did my job perfectly, nobody would notice. If I messed up, everyone would notice. Same goes with video; Thousands of hours go into movies, years even. Many hours go into writing a half hour comedy. However, the end impression is only for a few moments. Only the experts can notice the technical quality of a product. But the average Joe doesn’t. Unless it is awful. If you do it correctly, many people won’t notice. And this goes for lots of activities – water treatment plant, proof editor, janitor, choreographer. So long as you are proud of what you do, that is one person enough.
You are absolutely right. Google even tells people its about content. It is very annoying to wait through an irrelevant flash intro when all you are looking for is a phone number, or a part for your plumbing, or a part for you vintage car. The three click rule was taught in school in 2001 when I started college and took a website design class. It still applies now, more than ever. Most competent webpage authors can tell you put a relevant title on your webpage and people (including Google) will find it. All the meta words in the world won’t help as much. The obscure topic of the website I have listed here went to a 2 in less than a year. There are not meta words at the top of the page, just a relevant title.
[...] No one cares about your website Those of us in the web design and development fields have a total crush on ourselves. As I was called the other day, we are divas. Our design senses are keen and superior. Our development skills witty and crafty. But there’s one huge problem to this love affair. [...]
Beautiful. As a budding web designer, I think that this is great advice, and I will definitely take it to heart. I hope that other people can learn from this; it’s about the boldness of your words and not how fancy the page is. Thank you for the reminder!