Top Designers Compare Philosophies

by Shoba Narayan

Budgets and deadlines may drive the day-to-day operations of Web design firms, but it is the chief designer's philosophy that gives a firm its signature and ultimately forges its direction.

We asked the creative directors at four leading design firms to share their design philosophy for the fledgling medium. All of them were frustrated by their clients' lack of understanding of the potential of the medium and what they called the 'unreasonable' expectations they faced. All of them were resigned to the fact that a big part of their job involved educating their clients. And all of them were tuned in to the sensibilities of the users that make up the Web community.

Yet each of them comes at the Web from tangential points of view that give the following discussion its spice and color.

 

Thomas Lakeman, vice president of creative affairs, Digital Planet Corp., Culver City, Calif.

• Overall Design Philosophy: The Web is a meeting ground of technology and design. We want to create a very intuitive experience that functions how people actually think and function in their world.
• Example From The Physical World: Web design should aspire to the functionality that cars and telephones have now. The design of the telephone is so intuitive, so human-friendly, that when you talk into it, you actually think you're talking to a human being. Web design should become that empathetic.
• Dos and Don'ts on the Internet: This isn't exactly from the Internet, but Wired magazine touts very innovative design. But all of that is useless if a person's eyes are so distracted by the design that they miss the content. As for good design, Voyager's site and CD-ROM are good. It's intuitive and leads you back to the message they're trying to convey.
• Most Important Issues To Consider When Designing A Site: You can't take bandwidth for granted. Every time a person looks at something, it is an investment of their time. Things that jar you out of experiencing the medium and make you aware of its limitations are bad design. There is also a big reliance on the text on the Web.
• What Types Of Businesses Work Best On The Web: People should be on the Web if they want to engage in a dialogue with their audience. If they're not ready to approach their audience on equal terms, then maybe they shouldn't be on the Web. Certain industries like the tobacco industry, for example, may not like what they hear.

 

Nathan Shedroff, creative director, vivid studios, San Francisco

• Overall Design Philosophy: The best Web sites acknowledge that a site is an experience like any other. If you build good experience like any other. If you build good experiences, they will come, they will stay, and they will come back again and again.
• Example From The Physical World: The Internet is the next phone system. If you must compare it to something, think of it as an experience. Period. Yes, content is important, as are performance, compatibility and design, both visual and navigational. But interaction is key.
• Example of Dos and Don'ts on the Internet: The sites I like, like Suck magazine, match.com, and the Bank of America site, excel because they not only build a nice-looking site, but one with interesting things to do. The Disney site doesn't understand the needs of their audience. They have this huge site that was built for a workstation and is unrealistic for 14.4 users.
• Most Important Issues To Consider When Designing A Site: We grapple with five categories, in order of importance. They are performance, compatibility, interaction, content, and visual design. What are the true goals of the sites? What are the messages? Who are the audiences and what are their technical demographics and performance targets?
• What Types Of Businesses Work Best On The Web: I don't think that the split is along the lines of the type of business or market or industry, but along audience demographics. For example, some consumer products that should do really well on the Web are CD's and portable electronics, but I doubt that cosmetics or a bathroom tissue are going to sell very well.

 

Geoff Katz, creative director, Organic Online, San Francisco

• Overall Design Philosophy: Form follows function. We design with the user experience in mind.
• Example From The Physical World: We see the Web as the world's largest 'focus group' and want to design in such a way that our clients have a one-on-one relationship with individual consumers.
• Example of Dos and Don'ts on the Internet: www.papermag.com is everything you want to know about New York City and designed to make the experience reflect what's cool in the real world. Bad design? There is no bad Web design, only confused clients.
• Most Important Issues To Consider When Designing A Site: Often, given the number of decision makers involved in a Web project and the range of vision for what the site should be and do, we have to come up with the 'least problematic' design solution for the site, which usually involves a level of compromise in design.
• What Types Of Businesses Work Best On The Web: Companies that are willing to invest in staying in business in a future where the Internet is as common as running water and television.

 

Gregory Johnson, creative director, Magnet interactive Group, Washington, D.C.

• Overall Design Philosophy: Design is a classic type of discipline focusing on function, then form, balancing the aesthetic consideration with the technical and functional considerations. Really, it's about communicating something, whether it's a brand or a company or a service.
• Example From The Physical World: We compare our philosophy to that of an architect or builder in that we have to work with our clients, figure out what their needs are, and balance it with the technical constraints of the project.
• Example of Dos and Don'ts on the Internet: c|net redid their site, and I think it has a clean design, a very large site that is well organized and usable. Almost all automobile sites are bad. What are they selling? The car information and depth of quality car content on most sites is so limited it's ridiculous.
• Most Important Issues To Consider When Designing A Site: At this point what isn't an issue? In every site you have to find your target and a baseline of what the browsers are going to be. Do you pick the highest common denominator or the lowest? You have to be smart about image size. There are lots of tricks you can do to make the sites faster.
• What Types Of Businesses Work Best On The Web: Ones that have thought it out and don't just use the Web as a parking lot for old information.

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