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As you can see, many questions, and most of them probably got more than one answer. So, post your thoughts. What do you think makes a good webdesigner?
good code + good design + good content + good usability + good SEO + good marketing = good web design
NOT a graphic designer
NOT a programmer
NOT a marketing guru
You have to know a lot about all of the above but if you actually become one then you can no longer effectively develop websites. It's all about balance. I don't meant not doing any design or programming - just not taking one approach and neglecting the others.
;)
I have guys who handle the cart design, navigation, usability etc. The designer lays it all out. The best designers imho are good and FAST.
Bill
Edit: Typo
[edited by: jetboy_70 at 5:12 pm (utc) on July 8, 2004]
A good website creator is one who can:
1. Comprehend the purposes of a site with great clarity
2. Deliver that communication to the target audience
To do this, a person must tie together many disciplines - either by having those specific skills, or by being an excellent project manager. The essential skill, IMO, is the effective modularization of information.
I wanted to write something like that when I first saw this thread, but could not think of how to deliver that communication with such great clarity. No joke. Jetboy said it fairly well too.
Tom
NOT a graphic designer
This is my biggest pet peeve! I've worked with many designers over the last few years and almost all of were really glorified graphic designers.
Too many "web designers" still don't understand the basics of usability - they just make stuff that looks good.
The discipline involved is often called Information Architecture - and a couple months ago I wrote a post I called Information Architecture for the Small Site [webmasterworld.com].
To code jockeys, it sounds like fluffy-puffy cloud talk. To graphic designers it can seem like a left brain overdose. To marketers it may feel like a straight jacket.
But there's no web discipline I've ever studied that means more to making a site really work.
Of course, the first step is being exceedingly clear about the purpose of a site. That takes a kind of deep listening and questioning - of yourself if it's your own site, or of a client. If you aren't asking questions that give your client a reason to pause for deep thought, then you're probably bouncing off the surface.
Of course, there is still money to made from the right kind of bouncing ;)
Code Writer, Grafix Design and Good Contents, SEO and better e-marketing...
Anyone who can do all of that well, if such a person exists, is working for themselves and not for you. :)
Three cornerstones of excellence in graphic design are:
A. Intuitive layout - I understand what I'm looking at.
B. Compelling design - I want to read/view/touch this.
C. Effective interactivity - things do what I expect.
Do those three just right and the user comes away richer for having experienced it.
Know the rules and THEN you can break them. Otherwise, you're just wasting bandwidth.
Do not confuse "Art" with "Design."
Feel free to pass on/critique/comment.
Patrick Elward
IHMO a good web developer is:NOT a graphic designer
NOT a programmer
NOT a marketing guru
Not following ... wouldn't a web developer BE a programmer? It sounds like you're confusing web developer and web DESIGNER.
But this thread is about what makes a good one - whatever it is called.
If we were just to focus on the design aspects, many things come into play. But most of all an understanding of the medium - HTML and browsers. And unfortunately, such "designers" are still relatively rare.
digitalv, what I meant by "programmer" is someone from the C, C+, C#, Perl, Pascal, Java, etc. world. You can see the results of their work at Slashdot - lots of text, strange colour-schemes (and small cartoon creatures ;)). The antithesis of a graphic-design-based site.
Web development is more about scripting languages (HTML, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, etc.) and the ability to combine them as needed (modularity as mentioned above).
I don't have anyone I do sites for who expects se stuff, thankfully.... my "niche" is otherwhere....
[How about "net-mechanic"....? I quite LIKE that, actually!]
good code + good design + good content + good usability + good SEO + good marketing = good web design
Anyone that thinks graphic design doesnt contribute towards an effective website is kidding themselves
1) Good code - the glue that halds it all together, clean, cross browser, effcient
2) Good design - aesthetically pleasing, professional looking, good use of colours etc. I am not reffering to amzazing grpahic desing skills - just enough so it doesnt look amateurish.
3) good content - duh! this is what people come to the site for!
4) good usability - the site needs to be easy to use by anyone
5) good SEO - so that people can get to your site
6) good marketing - so that people can get to your site and come back to it
The above points are THE main things that make a good site, I'm not saying that one person has all these but if there were a perfect web desinger they would have all the above!
Obviously each of the above can be broken down many times but that is what you need to make a good website - end of story.
I hate to admit it, but I think the graphic design aspect plays a bigger part than I originally thought. The more I design, and the more I surf looking at others work, it's almost always the sites with really nice graphics that deliver the visual 'wow' that makes me want to stay. Granted, if I'm visiting a site for information purposes, it's the modularization and organization of that information that MATTERS, but the choice between a cluttery, text filled, cartoon imaged site with the info. I need and a site with a spartan design and high quality, elegant graphics, and also the info. I need, is no choice at all.
(Really, ObviousMan? No kidding.)
a small invention yet mine own ...
also is a kind of non scary spider metaphore ..bringing together many vital strands to make one tightly woven whole ...
Upto now no one mentioned imagination ...visual or otherwise ie copy style nav etc ....
Personally, I equate a good web designer/developer/master/whateveritscalled with a person that first and foremost understands which kind of media he/she is using. So a good webdesigner knows that the Web is not a visual media; and it never has been, in my opinion. It's an electronic media, both audio and visual, both print and screen.
IMO, the most important trait a good web designer can have (besides a good understanding of the web) is that (s)he puts functionality first and foremost. Functionality includes usability and accessibility, and accessibility in turn includes SEO, even if not .
The second most important trait is that the person doing the design knows, like Tedster said, what the purpose of the site is and designs accordingly.
Naturally, fancy graphics and all is great; I too would much rather experience a site with a design like one from CSS Zen Garden than some old boring bare-bones design with no graphics, a dull background color and some links thrown in as an afterthought. But it should never come first. While an appealing exterior is great, it should never come on the cost of functionality.
Finally, bsterz mentioned quality and speed as his main points. While I understand where you're coming from, I must disagree - A good webdesigner isn't good because (s)he makes quality work, or happens to churn out a thousand websites a month; a good webdesigner churns out quality work at a blazing pace because (s)he's good at what (s)he does. In other words, they're more a measure of how good you are than actually what makes them good. Likewise with good code; you write good code because you're good at what you do, not the other way around.
And that is my view of a good webdesigner; whether you agree with it or not is up to you. I'd love to hear some other views though, so keep them coming! ;)
good (professional) designer = designs to maximize earnings
Sorry, but no. Should a state highway department site be designed to maximize earnings? Should an AIDS or cancer awareness site be designed to maximize earnings?
Tedster had it right. A professional designer delivers the most effective method for accomplishing the client's goals, whether that be to maximize earnings or to maximize losses, it is not for the designer to say (as long as the client has the money to maximize losses and still pay said designer).
Tom
IMO, the most important trait a good web designer can have (besides a good understanding of the web) is that (s)he puts functionality first and foremost. Functionality includes usability and accessibility, and accessibility in turn includes SEO, even if not .
No No No!
Usability and accessability are completley pointless if there is no content or very poor content.
You need content, design, accessability AND visual design at the same time - that is what web design is about, how can it possibly be any other way?!
Think about a store that sells CDs,
1) you have a store which is really easy to use and anyone can get in the store BUT there are only 5 CDs (no content)
2) you have thousands of CDs BUT its impossible to find anything because its so badly organised (no usability)
3) you have a store with thousands of CDs, its easy to find stuff BUT the staff are all hobos/tramps and the store is made out of carboard on a refuse tip (no design)
4) you have a store with thousands of CDs that are easy to find, anyone can get in the store and the store a well design outlet in a shopping mall.
Which store would you use?
So at the risk of repeating myslef - design, content, coding, usability are ALL needed to be a good web designer
A good webbie cares about the end user.
Good point Purple Martin. I'd add: "and understands the end user"
I regard my experiences working in user support, when first starting out in the sector, as the most useful knowledge I've picked up in my whole career.
There's no substitute for experiencing first hand how little most folks actually know about using a computer, imho.
Only after asking "where did you save the file?" and getting the answer "I don't know I just saved it" a few hundred times does one begin to get an insight into the mindset of "normal" users.
My favourite example: I find user with both hands covering the keyboard attempting to press all the keys at once. They explain, "well, one of them must be the right key to do what I want..." :)
revised:
If you have clients, design in order to meet your client's goals.
If you are your own client... we are back to maximizing profits.
IMHO, many client-only designers would get a crash course in web basics if they had to live off the earnings of their work.
