“State of the Community” articles are making me mad, how about you?
Has anyone read these articles that keep popping up? Here is one that I commented on today, strictly because it was pissing me off.
Read that article, then PLEASE come back and tell what exactly the point of it is?
The author keeps saying the “design community” is in a terrible state, but never really says anything. Saying things like: “I was about to suggest that finding good articles on Web design is becoming hard, but instead I’ll state that finding any articles on Web design is hard.”
I personally would like to know WHAT THAT FREAKIN’ MEANS?? What was the author searching for? Was it jQuery’s growth in web development? How WordPress has impacted the blogging community? CSS3 browser compatibility? How to do rounded corners in CSS3? WHAT??
Do they need help? Cause I can point them to a ton of different blogs that can help them become better web developers…say… nettuts for example, orrrrr css-tricks.com.
I seriously think the people that write these articles want to sit around and discuss how awesome they are and why everyone else just follows trends. The people that are replying in agreement are no better. No one is really saying anything, other than the community sucks, and only “famous” web developers get their work noticed. Do these people really sit around all day looking at whatever these web showcase thingys are?
If you have a problem with writing some jQuery, or css, or want to find out about HTML5 tags, is it really impossible to find the answer you are looking for?
I have a feeling I am totally missing the point of these conversations. Maybe these are just artsy-fartsy types that really want to show off their work so others can bask in its awesomeness.
All I know is, I don’t have time to care about the coolest websites I’ve seen on the net. I want to push my skills as much as possible and learn. I buy a book, I watch/read tutorials and go on from there. I don’t want to discuss why you chose green over blue, because it doesn’t matter. I want to know why I would use .delegate() over .live(), how do I use CSS3 background gradients yet still compensate for older browsers. I have too much to do and learn than to care about why you think Helvetica is better than Arial.
I agree with you for the most part, though it seems you’re taking random unnecessary jabs at design elements.
“I don’t want to discuss why you chose green over blue” is a graphic design equivalent of ” I want to know why I would use .delegate() over .live()”.
No need to bring legit graphic design questions into your rant.
I do agree that our industry is tainted with a very awkward arrogance. I remember viewing some portfolios, and some of the web designers seriously thought they were God. I saw things like “We’re expensive because we are different from all those nobodies who have no idea how this industry works”. I wanted to punch them. I did, kinda. I needed a new monitor anyways.
I personally believe the web design market is completely over valued. That reflects in prices and in perceptions. The fact that I am able to work for a $20/hour rate being not even a year out of high school while being 75% cheaper than other local designers should say something.
But yeah, I don’t know what the heck the guy is saying about the community being dead. The community may not be as artsy or philosophical as it once was. I’d say it’s efficient and sufficient: Blogs and tutorials give us what we want and give it to us fast. There’s not a problem with that. You learn, you teach, and the cycle repeats. If you have a brilliant enough mind, you learn, you teach, you innovate, you teach, and then the cycle repeats. Not everyone is going to be an innovator in their industry, and that’s perfectly fine. I bet you’ll still get fabulous medical treatment from a doctor that didn’t win a Nobel prize, for example.
Good read, good rant, but why hate on Arial
LOL…awesome about the monitor. And personally, I love Arial.
The point I was trying to make about the color thing and the font, is that it seems that the author of that article, and many of the comments on there, want some deep meaningful discussion that will enlighten them. Instead of defining what it really was they wanted, it came off as “why does nobody care about MY work?” Its web design, not religion or a philosophical debate that has any real depth.
Maybe I’m just too much of a developer now, and working in the corporate world has changed me. Ease of use and function come before design. We build wireframes to show what the site will do, the design of the thing can come later. Which now that I think about it, maybe that is my issue. For me, design comes last, not that isn’t important, but content and function get first dibs.
Look at Facebook….does anyone ever really go there and say “Wow, this is beautiful to look at…just look at those colors and the font-face of that logo!” I seriously doubt it. It does what they need it to do. Gives them a place to talk to their friends and share. It could look like a pile of poop and I don’t think it would matter one bit…it would still be just as popular.
Jeremy,
Good design should go unnoticed. Good design is all about complementing function. I agree that without good content and without good functionality, design won’t save a website. But design can really complement the functionality of a site, but good design SHOULD go unnoticed. Take for example the firefox download page.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html
If I’m going to that website to download firefox, it takes me less than a second to find the download button. Why is that? The Firefox page developers knew 90% of the people coming to that page just wanted a download button, so that’s what they gave them: That’s functionality.
To help the user in their pursuit of a download, they offered a large download button with color contrast and depth contrast, paired with the FireFox logo so people know what they’ll be downloading. The design works so well with the functionality that you can seriously download firefox without having to read a single word.
And dude, corporations are where a lot of this “mindless debacle” happen.
My friend’s uncle is a partner of Deloitte Tax Services, and he told us Deloitte paid MILLIONS for this logo (“Corporate Identity”)
http://www.deloitte.com/deloitte-ecm-cm-dpm-web/images/dcom/new_deloitte_logo.gif
It’s freaking Deloitte with a green dot, but it’s brandable.
And the IBM Logo is just a simple
http://www.enterprise.mtu.edu/highschool/partners/logos/ibm-logo.jpg
But it’s brandable. The corporate world buys into this stuff way more than small business.
In my fully unqualified opinion, design serves three purposes:
1) Remind users where they are
2) Complement functionality
3) To NOT make them leave based on the design. Sufficient design is effective design: anything extra is just artsy.
Let’s apply your facebook example. I agree with you 100% that the choice of colors and fontface is not keeping me mesmerized, but it’s sufficient enough to keep me from leaving due to the design itself. Where I disagree is that you say “it could look like a pile of poop and I don’t think it would matter”
How many guys do you honestly think would use this facebook?
http://mcculloughdesigns.com/blog/webdesign/girlfacebook.jpg
Personally I’d never want to be seen with that window open.
Well, I am man enough to admit, that I just got served. Indeed, I can’t even describe the level of embarrassment I would be at if someone caught me with that open, lol. Touche.
“Good design should go unnoticed. Good design is all about complementing function. I agree that without good content and without good functionality, design won’t save a website. But design can really complement the functionality of a site”
Agreed.
I will admit that I was annoyed and probably went a little harsh. I was just so irritated at the vagueness of the article without any ideas to change whatever it was they were trying to clarify.
There was a better article called The Dying Art of Design or something like that on Smashingmagazine.com that was better because the author went into a lot more detail on what he was talking about.
Thanks by the way for the posts.