“I need a website” is usually the first couple words that are said to me before I start a project, obviously. But when I get these types of requests most of the time a problem arises that is not always seen until the project starts. Not all people are educated in the techniques and process that goes into good web design. These types of projects tend to get lengthy and stale due to the fact that the client does not understand the full idea in developing something that will be successful for them.

I have run into the problem before many times. The client knows what they want, but fail to understand the principals behind good design. Fighting creative freedom is not always the best route to take when dealing with designers. In order for a creative pro to get into a project and give it the best treatment necessary it is important to honor the requests and advice of the creative director that is handling the project. Micro managing every fine detail takes the “fun” out of the project and tends to produce a stale result.

Communication is important in any situation of this type. Trying to understand the clients vision is the most difficult process of any project. Once understood and the two parties are on the same page, the project can turn a new leaf and become something that will be beneficial to both the client and the designer.

For this reason it is one of our jobs as designers to educate the client on the process before the project is even started. Anyone can spit out a generic website that maintains the basic structure and is functional, but successful hard hitting websites don’t come easy. It takes time and effort to develop a site that is both engaging and portrays the image, message and feeling behind the subject matter. Educate and create and the design process will be a lot smoother for both you and your clients.

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In an age where everyone has access to post the innermost workings of everyones lives, broadcast for the public eye to see we come across this idea of Lifecasting. The success of reality TV, MySpace and YouTube has shown us that people want to know all there is to know about other people’s lives. I came across this idea of “Lifecasting” the other day in one of my magazines. Its an interesting concept that people have been doing for some time now. The posting of pretty much everything and everything that has to do with your everyday life. Blogs like this one are an outlet for people to display their info or lives and have become a large part of the web containing some of the best up to date information on the web.

The popularity of blogs, the posting of random funny pictures of unusual antics by random people, the success of the media mentioned above are all proof that everyday people are becoming more interesting than the stars in Hollywood. It’s a free expression of ideas, and people love it. Sharing photos, videos and everyday life excites the viewer creating a new type of community online. The basis of the internet is the free expression of ideas, a voice to the world to say what you want with no limitations for everyone to see.

We can apply this concept to Interactive Media and capitalize on the draw that this type of idea creates. If visitors are able to customize and personalize, they attach a certain ownership to the media that they have created. Create a profile, pick out a picture to associate your account to, change the color, change the layout, control hooks the masses. X-Box Live does a great job of hooking its users by allowing the customization of gamer profiles, tags, pictures, slogans, motos, friend groups, a message center, and more. This type of engagement attracts people to keep going back and checking in time after time to see what more they can customize and change.

Forums and interactive user communities are another sample of this and add a sense of validity and ownership to a product or service they are attached to. In user forums people can speak their minds regarding certain subjects and or products and help guide the company to better serve their customers. Its the new type of customer service, a integrated database of user opinions, rants and free ideas. It’s the idea of transparency, allow your customers or people interested in your business to freely speak their minds and help guide others and aid to sculpt a company into a customer service powerhouse.

We are integrated with the web in our everyday lives. Lifecasting is the beginning of a new era of technology being fused with society. We can either embrace this new media or be left in the dust…

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Ever come across a site that launches all types of windows on your computer? If your not using Firefox, as you should be , you might not even notice that you are being assaulted with various windows popping up on each click that you make. I’ve come across a couple sites that make the mistake of not going the distance and checking all of the links to make sure that they all stay within the same window. Numerous sites overlook this creating a endless barrage of new windows while navigating through their sites. Its a simple concept that is overlooked is bad web design.

Its all about having a website take control over your computer. Everyone wants control over the page they are browsing through. Yet some designers/developers feel the need to use JavaScript or some other coding language to resize a window or keep it at a certain size. My personal opinion is to stay out of the users ability to control what is on a site. Once we starting forcing the user to either keep the window open or do something they don’t necessarily want we create a negative user experience.

Why is this negative? Well think of it this way. Say a user is browsing the web in a small window while working on other things on their screen. they open your website and BAM! it resizes to the full width and hight of their screen. Although we would like to think when someone is going to your site that they will have no distractions and become totally focused on what you have created for them. This is rarely the case. With the emergence of multi-tab browsing your site is probably one of the multiple sites the user is currently browsing.

The work around is to hint at the idea of allowing full screen or auto resize by a button or witty line implying that their experience will be a whole lot cooler. Once we stray from the idea that the user/visitor should be in total control we lose positive experience points.

Through design and layout we work to guide the user through a site not force them to take a path. Let them choose…

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Design and creativity are an involved process of thinking. I have touched on the subject of creative thinking before but when applied to graphic/web design, the main stimulation of thinking is conveying a visual idea, as well as a purpose for that idea, to our clients and target audiance. This in turn should produce results based on the initial purpose of the project. As creative gurus, we become victims of our own creativity and at times get so involved in the process of layout and design that we loose the idea behind the whole process.

As artists, we shouldn’t have to explain why we created something. But as “Creative Resources” in the business marketplace, every action or creative innovation should have a purpose and a function. Designers do not necessarily need to explain their creativity. They should understand the ideas behind the innovations they create. Collaboration with the client and explaining the full idea cultivated from various ideas, well thats the Creative Director’s job. This separation of tasks allows for the designer to focus on the task at hand.

Teamwork is essential in creating innovative work, as well as clients that are willing to take the plunge and trust the vision set forth by the project leader. We struggle to find focus when all team players are not working toward that one unique vision. Creation for the web environment it tough, requiring many different technologies merged into one to produce a successful end product. Many different specialty fields are required when creating unique interfaces. Designers, Flash Animators, Developers, Art Directors, Project Managers etc. All play a integral part of the design process. Yet conveying the main idea and goal of the project is the most important idea that all players should be working towards.

The main focus of my little rant here is to embrace the creativity that stems from your subconscious. Don’t design with the intention of explaining why you created something a certain way. Once a solid idea is produced, we may then reflect upon the idea and explain why at the point of revisiting. This process seldom works in reverse and can be a unique idea to gain focus when in a time of creative lows.

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As I browse the web looking for innovative web design from random portfolio sites, lots of sites, although effective in communicating the visual idea, look the same. A lot of creative companies, in order to create designs that are easy to use and effective, use template systems and stick to it. As an artist and innovator, straying away from these types of template systems, unless its e commerce, is a standard in thinking. Part of the challenge as designers is to encapsulate the feeling, aesthetic and vision of a company into an online presence. Using a template created for “insert company name” is a cop out in my opinion.

The ability to take a brand and create a unique user experience is essential to creating the best solution possible for a company. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of wire frames showing the customer the idea behind the design and inherent flow that goes along with the creative idea…Yet some websites fall into the cookie cutter aesthetic all too often. The sites we create look different, have a certain theme and institute some type of feel with their audience. This is the idea that continues to reflect positive results.

So where do we draw the line, good design takes time, but some companies want speed and perfection… How do we accomplish such innovation under such tight time constraints? The key is keeping your creative team as well as your clients happy with constant updates on progress and feedback. Estimate a time frame for a project before starting, this allows the time needed to create a winning design that will be both give your team the time needed to have fun with the project as well as not have you pulling your hair out when the client wants to see something faster than the original plan, rushing the creative.

Surprises within a project are only good if they involve shorter estimated time frames than originally estimated. All in all, its about creating something different than the average. There are so many new web technologies at our fingertips. The essential idea is to use what you need, don’t over power and create with the user in mind.

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