Web design presents unique challenges compared to designing for other mediums, requiring a broad range of skills and considerable expertise. Despite this, designers from various backgrounds, including engineering, architecture, product design, and graphic design, are drawn to this medium. In this chapter, we aim to offer an overview of the current state of web design and our role as practitioners working within it.
Designing for the web presents unique challenges compared to other mediums. The range of skills needed can be overwhelming, and the depth of experience required can seem unattainable. However, designers from various disciplines, including engineering, architecture, product design, and graphic design, are drawn to this medium. This chapter aims to offer a current overview of the web design landscape and our responsibilities as practitioners in this field.
I often receive inquiries from students and aspiring designers seeking my advice on how to break into the industry. They ask me questions like “What skills do I need to land my dream job?” or “What should I study in school to become a web designer?” It can be overwhelming to know where to begin. Perhaps you’re a developer looking to improve your design skills, or a print designer seeking a new direction. Before diving into specific courses or software, it’s important to first have a thorough understanding of the current state of the web, its origins, and potential future developments.
Every medium has its own set of limitations, and these constraints significantly impact a designer’s ability to work within it. Understanding the boundaries of a medium is crucial to pushing its limits.
As a print designer, I was initially drawn to the immediacy of designing for the web. Unlike print, which is constrained by lead times and the finality of the printed product, the web offered me the ability to make changes and continuously evolve my designs beyond a deadline. I could experiment, refine, and redesign to my heart’s content. This flexibility represented a revolution in graphic design, and it was in 1997 when I first experienced it.
A flood of creative professionals entered the online industry following this, including writers and graphic designers, all captivated by the freedom and excitement of the new medium. However, a common mistake we made was attempting to force the web to conform to conventions of other media it was not designed for. For instance, HTML tables were meant for tabular data, but with their cells, rows, and columns, they resembled the visual language of graphic designers who had long used Quark XPress. As a result, nested tables and spacer gifs were used extensively, leading to an overabundance of grid-based designs on every website.
Web browsers act as a gateway for us to access and explore the web. They communicate with web servers through the HTTP protocol to fetch and display web pages. In the early days of the web, several browser manufacturers vied for market share, leading to the development of proprietary technologies to handle different media types. This resulted in a proliferation of non-standard code, causing interoperability issues. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of the Web Standards Project and the W3C, the situation has improved significantly. Browser manufacturers are now collaborating with designers and developers to develop exciting browser features like font-embedding.
Web browsers have traditionally been the most popular means of accessing, browsing, and interacting with the web. However, the line between online and offline is becoming increasingly blurred as the web is accessed by other devices and programs.
For instance, I use an RSS reader to keep track of my favorite news sites and blogs. Unlike a web browser, an RSS reader is a program that displays content by removing style and design and presenting only article text and associated images in a list. Similarly, email notifications can keep you engaged with the web by tracking discussion forums, web applications, and services without requiring you to open a web browser.
Another way to access web data is through an Application Programming Interface (API) that enables a program to access data on the web and display it elsewhere. For example, Flickr Uploader allows me to upload images from my iPhoto gallery to my Flickr account by using the Flickr API. This eliminates the need to open a web browser.
In addition to computers, there are various other channels for web content delivery such as mobile phones, PDAs, televisions, and game consoles. The iPhone, in particular, interests me due to its fully-featured web browser and numerous web-based applications such as Facebook and Twitter. I prefer using these applications to their web browser versions.
The main point to understand is that the web is not limited to just one or two browsers. It is ubiquitous, accessible through an array of devices and applications, and continuously evolving.
A decade ago, the web was primarily used by a tech-savvy, younger, male audience. But five years later, its adoption skyrocketed and people of all ages and genders started using it for various purposes, from buying gifts to booking holidays. Blogging emerged as a new form of journalism, revolutionizing how people consume news online. And now, another five years down the line, even my mom is on Facebook. This exemplifies the web’s transformation from a publishing medium to a platform of diverse tools and applications that enhance people’s lives. The audience has become massive and diverse, and the technology is becoming more ubiquitous. It’s an exciting time! However, with this rapid evolution, how can we ensure that the audience we design for today has the same motivations, needs, and desires as that of six months ago?
In this context, research plays a crucial role in web design more than ever before. By gathering data on the behavior of potential users and engaging with them, we can tailor our designs to meet their needs. We can no longer assume that all users are the same or that our designs will work for every audience. As designers, we need to stay up-to-date with the ever-changing audience to ensure that we meet their evolving needs.
The speed at which the web evolves is remarkable. What is considered new today will become a norm in just a few months. To keep pace, a designer must be not only aware of current trends and conventions but also a user of the products and services that define those conventions.
Twitter is an excellent example of this. When it first arrived in 2006/07, many did not see its value. However, over time, respected designers and developers began to incorporate Twitter, Flickr, Delicious links, and other web services into their blog designs. The design itself became a reflection of the designer’s “lifestream.” And, now businesses are starting to see the benefits of incorporating these services. Design conventions are maturing online, and it’s crucial to be a web consumer to understand what is possible.
It can be challenging to keep up with everything as a web designer. From information architecture and user experience design to front-end development like CSS, HTML, and scripting languages such as JavaScript and PHP, a web designer’s job is vast. While every job advertisement for a web designer once required proficiency in all of these areas, modern web design has become too complex for one person to be excellent at everything. As a result, web design is splintering into specialisms, which is a positive development.
As a freelancer or working in a small company, being a specialist can be challenging. Your boss may ask you to expand your skill set and diversify, and the desire to learn something new can lead you in new directions. However, it’s essential not to lose sight of your core offering as a designer. For me, it’s layout design. Clients come to me for my knowledge and experience in typography, which is my primary selling point. While I have other skills, such as hand-coding HTML and CSS and project management, I need to remain focused on my strengths as a graphic designer.
Adaptability is a crucial trait for web designers. They must be willing to learn and embrace change, even if it means abandoning previously held design principles and starting from scratch. Web designers must also accept and manipulate the constraints of the web, all while maintaining a clear vision of their own design journey. The web is an enriching design medium that has captivated many designers, and I am one of them.
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