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This is one of the most eloquent breakdowns of a website redesign I’ve read. You can read the entire post on UsabilityPost.com.
A redesign is a symptom of a disease. A good design works to make the thing perform well and to communicate how it works to the user. It’s an expression of function. A well designed thing is beautiful to us precisely because its design is optimal for its purpose—its form is in harmony with its function.
A good design doesn’t need a refresh or a redesign unless the function dramatically changes. If the changes are subtle, the design should be able to accommodate them effortlessly. What we’re seeing though with website redesigns around the Web isn’t a change in function, but a change in style.
The cause of a redesign is an imbalance—a strong focus on style over substance. By focusing on style, you give way to trends, and by their nature, trends come and go. When you imbue your design with the latest trend you sentence it to death. As the latest aesthetic fancy flies away, it will carry off with it that which makes your design so appealing. It will become boring and old, and a redesign will be in order.
The online world is fluid. It’s never the same from one week to the next so, if you work within this industry, resting on your laurels is not an option. In terms of web development, neither is being so rigid in your processes that you can’t adapt to changing trends, behaviors or even clients’ needs.
While understanding these basic principles, it’s still an absolute must to work within a well defined development process to ensure your solution (and your reputation) delivers on its promise. When faced with tight deadlines, pressure from account management, unwilling client participants or, all of the above, it’s very easy to succumb to the temptation of just plowing ahead and getting a project out the door. Sure, this approach may keep a budget in check and allow you to move on to the next billable item, but how good is the solution or its long-term viability? Chances are, not very.
Developing a culture that embraces process and uses it to its full potential while being able to balance time line, budget and client expectations is what differentiates “good” from “great”.
A great video about web design, featuring the legendary Jeffrey Zeldman…
Until I have time to write up something in my own words, this will have to do.
“Web design is the creation of digital environments that facilitate and encourage human activity; reflect or adapt to individual voices and content; and change gracefully over time while always retaining their identity”
—jeffrey zeldman
Any designer who doesn’t think like a marketer will never be anything more than a production artist. Read the full discussion.
Recently, I was told that creative briefs are an extraneous step in an already complicated process of web development. It was suggested that we should simply rely on our experience and client insight to make the right decisions and keep the process moving more quickly.
Anyone who’s spent any time working in the creative field, or has ever stood in front of a client and presented creative, knows that a well written brief is the backbone behind any creative strategy. Without it, we have nothing to justify our final solution. Nothing to hold up and say, “this is why we did what we did”.
Working from a client-approved brief improves a project’s chance of success—and ours.
