SEASONS

More than just pretty pictures

For a month now, I've been debating whether or not to write about web design as a profession. My thoughts were sparked by Chris' comments that, because of TVA, web design is a possible profession for him. I know a couple other TVA students that are thinking the same thing. This comes during a year when I have decided that web design will remain strictly a hobby for me. With this entry, I hope not to discourage, but rather to provide a reality check—web design as a profession is about more than just pretty pictures.

The reason why I found Chris' comments so interesting was because he is considering web design an option even though he hardly knows anything about it; TVA wasn't focused on web design this summer. Even students that were in AIC 2003 and 2002 (both of which I led) don't know the full responsibilities of a web designer. I take the blame for not conveying the extent of this field and for not being prepared to do so.

When I released this design, practically all the comments I received concerned the aesthetics. I took (and dropped; too much work) an environmenal design class during my freshman year and all the attention on aesthetics reminded me of what the professor said. He was telling the story of his trip to Rome. He wanted to take pictures of the famous structures, but as you can imagine, there were a lot of tourists and he couldn't take any pictures of the structures by themselves. He went back to Rome later on, during a time when there were few tourists, and took the pictures that he wanted. When he looked at the developed pictures, though, they felt lifeless. That's when it dawned on him: buildings aren't interesting without people.

Buildings are used by people. That's why architecture is a design field: there is form and function. A well-designed building not only looks nice, but also aids the people that live/work/play there. If a building is designed in way that makes it impossible to use, it doesn't matter how pretty it is. I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this—web design has the same caveats as architecture.

We often get caught up in the hows—how to make nice graphics and how to lay them out with CSS—and spend little time on the whys. Sure, websites should be aesthetically pleasing. But why is the link to the archives at the bottom of the page? Why do I have to scroll to reach the search box? Why do I have to scroll to reach the navigation? And why is the navigation lumped with off-site links?

You probably think I'm going overboard with these criticisms. I am. Those are excusable for hobbyists. But if you're seriously thinking about web design as a profession, what I mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg. So if you're not even thinking about the points that I mentioned, maybe you should or be prepared to rethink your future plans.