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![The Difference Between Good and Bad Website Design Isn't Complicated [NYT + Marty Note] | Must Design | Scoop.it](https://img.scoop.it/r2kvtgxrIgGzZyqzbcZyoDl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVvK0kTmF0xjctABnaLJIm9)
Well-crafted sites need to fulfill their functions efficiently and engagingly.
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Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith |
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Miriam Murphy's comment,
February 18, 2013 1:36 PM
I think you've got some good points (as does Rawsthorn), but something about her approach rankled me a bit. Web design isn't like architecture; it's much younger and has had to grow much faster. While we may not like to admit it, I think that web design is still riding that very chaotic wave of the early years of the Internet; we may have streamline what we do and how it should look, but we're only just pinpointing that and examining further strategies for a long-run approach. Frog on Top has a good criticism of the article, http://www.frogontop.com/detail.php?id=52 . I agree that bloated animations and navigation issues are really problematic and that sites are prone to dumb mistakes, but there's a larger historical context to consider sometimes!'
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I like this article's approach. Alice Rawsthorn makes understanding what good website design is easy. Good web design makes finding information easy. Love this idea,
"...the most important purpose of most Web sites is to enable us to access information, helping us to find it effortlessly is essential."
As website designers if we were to put that sentence on a wall and check every new design element against it we would be better off. We don't check ideas against the real reason we created the website in the first place, Rawsthorn speculates, because:
* Technologyitis - love new tech without understanding it.
* Lack of imagination or too much imagination.
* Designers easily get lost in a "Curse of Knowledge".
This last bullet is true to my 7 years as a Director of Ecommerce. We looked at our website for hours every day. Our ability to "see" it was zero. What we thought was "easy" could be hard. What we thought was "hard" could be easy. We had, as the Heath brothers describe in their excellent book Made To Stick, the curse of knowledge.
My team created an important rule. We called it the "Because Rule". Our because rule stated that BECAUSE you CAN do something doesn't mean it is the RIGHT thing to do. RIGHT = helping people find our content and intent (what we wanted them to do) faster, with less effort and with more fun.
Here's the rub of our Because rule. Every website communicates in overt (click this next) and covert (we are easy to work because you can find what you want) ways. Our "Because Rule" like this article from Alice helped check the inevitable mission creep every Internet marketing team experiences.
What is your "Because Rule"? How do you craft great website design?