willybfriendly - 6:34 am on Feb 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

The Personality

The Internet is about communication, and communication takes place between people. To be effective it can be neither bland or impersonal.

Every webdesigner should read the Cluetrain Manifesto. Among other things, its authors state:

"A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter and getting smarter faster than most companies."

A website relfects a personality. If you are like me, you have a distaste for the emergence of things like automized self checkout in stores like Walmart. We like to interact with real people. How does this look on the web? A site should reflect the personality of its owner(s)

Even successful Interent behemoths such as Google have discovered the importance of personality on the Internet. Those that watch Google closely are aware of the special logos that the company displays from time to time. These logos are far more than a humurous affectation used by a large corporation. They reflect in a subtle, visceral way the playfulness and human side of what could easily be a faceless monolith on the web.

Desing a site around a theme that reflects the values of personality of the owner(s). It can be difficult to identify this theme, but in our experience, once it is identified the development of the project flows more smoothly, and the end result hangs together as a more coherent whole.

The Presentation

This is where most of us begin a site in our early stages of learning design.

We make this mistake because we forget that form follows function.

The presentation includes graphic elements, site architecture, content style and more. The presentation elements of a website bring all of the different aspects together into a functional whole that will work for the visitor and the owner. Grounded in the purpose of the site, it reflects the personality of the owner while serving the needs of the visitor.

An effective website is Zen like. It is simple, yet deep. It facilitates the interactions necessary to attain its purpose. It is rich in its essence while maintaining balance in its goals. It does not over reach itself with meaningless gewgaws, nor does it fall short of expressing its essence.

An effective site communicates with transparency, drawing the visitor in, maintaining their interest, and moving them towards its inevitable purpose.

Too often this is lost to the bias of the designer. Those that excel at graphic design tend to develop sites with visual elements that take center stage. Those whose strengths lie in programming develop sites that have pure code and are standards compliant but might be sterile and lifeless. Those that write well might have pages and pages of well written copy that is ineffective when presented in the medium of the Internet.

If we know the purpose, audience and personality of the site, the presentation elements are much easier to develop.

[edited by: willybfriendly at 6:35 am (utc) on Feb. 3, 2006]