Ok, so you are a designer (or not, how am I supposed to know?), or I will assume you are for the sake of this post. You went to school for design, you live design, love design, everything in your life revolves around or is somehow tied to design. Bottom line is that you care about design.
The problem is that most people do not care about design. When browsing websites they don’t make mental notes on the text size or the color palette as you undoubtedly do. The majority of people are after some content or other. They don’t care what the site looks like, only that it’s easy to navigate and that the content contained within is what they are looking for.
I am not saying that we should ignore design because people don’t notice it, what I will say though, is that CONTENT and USABILITY should be your #1 priority when designing a new site, build your design around that, not the other way around.
Now, I realize that you ARE a designer, and to serve up styleless pages might make your heart skip a beat. I am not suggesting that. However, let’s put our egos aside for a minute and think about your new project from a different perspective, a users perspective…
Amen. While I do appreciate the painstaking skill applied to making a site “pretty,” I really just need to be able to find what I’m looking for within the first two seconds of arriving.
Have you read Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug? It’s a great read about improving usability. I highly recommend it for anyone involved in site design, development or administration.
May 21st, 2009 at 9:19 am
Nice post. I am not a designer (not the way you all are at least), but I do pay some attention to it. I fully agree that content and usability should be at least be as high on your priority list as design. Because at the end of the day if you have a beautifully designed turd, it’s still a turd.
May 21st, 2009 at 9:51 am
Amy,
I have heard of it, but not read it. Thanks for the recommendation!
May 21st, 2009 at 11:16 am
Agreed, “Don’t Make Me Think” is a fantastic read…I would also recommend “Prioritizing Web Usability” by Jakob Nielson & Hoa Loranger. – Though Ben may not need to read any of these, judging by this very usable site. Props.
December 18th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
dude,
this is spot-on. content is king. don’t know who said it but people visit your site a) before making a meeting with you b) before making a deal with you c) to find out what you have to offer or d) to use what you have to their benefit to achieve desired results. BUT I love it that you care and your designs looks good. rock on bshoults.com.
May 21st, 2009 at 9:15 am