The Illusion of Website Design I

What it really comes down to is that website design is a process of creating illusions. As website designers, we have the power to control what people see, but a much more limited amount of control over how things actually are. The rules we have to work by are already decided for us, given to us in codes and browsers and operating systems, few of which can agree on what is the best way to do things. We are left with a lot of function given no real form, and it becomes our job to use these tools to shape a dynamic, engaging user experience.

Different tools always work best for different situations. Consider, then, a series of companies each with their own goals. Perhaps one sells an artistic product, jewelry perhaps. Maybe it fills a more specific niche; we can use religious jewelry for this example. Another sells items of a more technical bent; headsets, headphones, and similar audio devices. A third can provide practical products in the form of heat packs, containers, and other items for shipping. Others will be providing services, which could range from sports picks to translation to travel deals.

So we have six companies, each one looking for a website. They’ve arrived at yours through a variety of routes; maybe the religious jewelry and shipping sites found you on the search engines, the one offering sports picks was referred by a past client, the headsets company found you on a site’s classifieds, the translator cost you a buck and a half for pay per click, and the travel site is a returning customer with about a thousand domains that they’re trying to monetize one website at a time. Whatever the case, they’ve come to you looking to get a website designed.

Each one has different ideas, desires, and influences. Of paramount importance to the jewelry site, for example, is being able to display all their products – rosary beads, cross necklaces, first communion gifts, and so on – in an efficient but attractive manner. The shipping site, on the other hand, doesn’t expect a lot of new products or changes to existing ones. However, an organized, automated system for maintaining the business is a must. For the company selling cordless headsets and wireless earpieces, individual pages to provide full details on each product is the order of the day. On the services side, the travel site wants to make connections among a plethora of affiliates that offer everything ranging from dirt cheap airline tickets and all inclusive vacations to Las Vegas coupons and discounts at couples resorts. The sports picks website wants to be able to maintain and update a list of current and upcoming games and picks, in a password-protected area for members only. Finally, our translator needs clients to be able to upload the documents (written, audio, and video) that need translation, and to be able to access, reference, and return them all through the website.

And we as website designers craft a cunning illusion indeed, for while these sites are quite varied in their goals and aims, a visitor who browsed to each would have no way of knowing that all six were founded on the same basic piece of code: mysql_query(“SELECT * FROM table”).

This article is continued in “The Illusion of Website Design II”.

Dustin Schwerman is the head web designer for Truly Unique Website Design. Truly Unique works on websites of all varieties; their clients may offer products and services ranging from religious jewelry to wireless headsets.

Article Source: http://bb-articles.com

Tagged with: web design • website design

Filed under: Web Design & Development

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