I think the problem with the web, and our profession, is that there
are too many people trying to design the equivalent of corporate annual
reports to stockholders, when they are trying to present Easy to USE
reference manuals.
Think about that for a moment.
What am I building? What is my client's goal? How will he know that
I have succeeded in satisfying his Goals?
There are all kinds of printed materials,
* Brochure -- quick overview
* Corporate annual report -- overview with facts and REASSURANCES
* Comic books, where illustration is the key to entertainment.
* Coffee-table presentation books designed to WoW, but not be read.
* Overviews of a field, not as rich in illustration, but not w/o.
* How-to's, with illustrated with essentials-only diagrams.
* Novels that appeal to the imagination without having YOUR
imagination spoiled by a differing imagination.
* Technical manuals, dry, information packed, well indexed.
* Reference compendiums, well indexed.
Movies, videos, and the like are a different medium all together.
I guess the real problems, is that we have brochure designers and corporate
report designers trying to make books into three fold brochures. Does not
work that way, folks.
* A brochure entices the viewer to look for more information
* A book cover needs to show what is in the book. It is more like
the corporate prospectus or annual report.
* The pages of a book need to be physically readable!!!
(Gnashing of teeth!)
* The contents need to make sense and convey information
* Books need an index. Yes, I think that even Tom Clancy's "The Hunt
for Red October" could stand a good index or good hypertexting. Some of us
want to go back and see where what was used, where this or that happened,
etc. (I thought the movie was lousy. Especially where 007 pulls away from
the periscope after seeing "A A A Red October Red October, your entire
fleet is looking for you"... But I guess it is hard to show that sense of
blood freezing when a person turns paper white and utterly still...)
Pick up a book. Hmmm... Is this the book I want? Does it have ABC
and even XYZ? In that five seconds of looking at the cover, you have to
get the person to start flipping to pages having things he is INTERESTED
IN and NEEDS. And then... Is it readable? Is the paper textured with
images running in the background? Or is the text optimized for
readability? Is there an index?
I remember Springer-Verlag's Pascal series, printed in Sans Serif
fonts. It was murder to read! Serif fonts on paper make reading so much
easier! I remember some old books printed in small type on grainy paper,
vs other books printed on slick coated stock that would reflect glare, and
yet other books on cheap but fine paper. And the old ornate Gothic script
types where some letters are just confusing. Readability is the key!
> I once heard a speaker suggest that a Web site should have "shock effect,"
> a mechanism other than the content to WOW the audience. I find it pointless
> and just because the designer or the client was wowed doesn't mean that an
The cover of a book should have some appeal to the eye. The
contents, to the mind; and the index, to someone who is trying to find
something in a hurry.
You know what I miss on the web? The ability to make marginal notes
and highlight passages that _I_ find of interest. That, and dog-ear
specific pages so I can find this or that line of text again.
(That's one thing we did right on my browser -- saving the cursor and
screen position. We did a lot of things wrong, too!)
What else? Lack of imaginative hypertexting; hypertexting that lets
you flow the information the way YOU want it. I am guilty of it too! I
have done text that is over-hypertexted, and a lot more that is
underhypertexted.
I am an information-text designer, not a brochure designer. I think
we need to admit there are specialties in our profession, just like the
print profession, and put some emphasis on it. Brochure designer, Annual
report designer, catalog designer, book designer, cartoonist, etc.
And then we need to network so that when someone asks you for a book,
you know where to turn to for the fly-leaf, the layout, the table of
contents, the copy editing, and the index. When those professionals come
together, a really good book is printed. When they don't... you get the
typical "home published" look of information hap-hazardly arranged, badly
indexed, and just a pain hard to get anything useful out of. Like some of
the older personal computer parts manuals! Now, the pendulum has swung
too far in the other direction -- desktop publishing gone wild with the
power of illustration.
But that is just my opinion, having been beaten up in another forum
for talking about medical facts that the people need to make their health
care decisions on. How like some of my clients! They don't want facts,
they want sympathy. When I was in pain, and afterwards, I want the facts!
Diagnosis, cause, prognosis, treatments, alternatives, percentages,
interactions, DETAIL FACTS! Because without facts, I can not make sound
decisions, and without sound decisions, I am not in control of my life.
Apparently, that is not what the majority want. They don't want to see the
reality, they just want some smideon of good feeling on their road to
hell. And have no desire to do any bushwhacking to get off that slow road.
Just like when they herded all those people into the cattle cars and took
them to the Gulags. Those first few hours, a rebellion could have
worked. Once they were in the cattle cars, they were too stunned and too
hungry to rebel.
And so it is with too many of our smaller clients. They want that
"Hey, Look at ME! I look good on THE WEB!" Instead of "Orders, dammit, why
am I not getting orders!!!" (To get orders, my dear client, you need text
explaining benefits... copywriting... site architecture... But you blew
$50,000, your entire add budget, on slow-load knockout graphics art site,
not a $15,000 starter catalog you can add to. Or, you want Amazon Books
for $5,000??? You give me a percentage, and I will build something
vaguely like that for you in my spare time over two or three years with a
LOT of discussion, hit monitoring etc. BUT... first you show me you WANT,
and CAN HANDLE that kind of growth, not just physically, but mentally and
professionally. And YOU must deliver the lists of features and benefits
your products deliver. Too busy to write text and look at hit logs? Too
busy succeed, huh? Thought so.)
So it keeps coming back to those simple stupid questions:
What are you trying to do?
What is your definition of success?
How will you know you have done it?
"Looking good on the web" is an egotist's answer. He is looking for
ego food, not money. If he claims to be in business, he won't be for long.
Go find another client. Or another employer.
For the right client... graphics has its place -- in support of
content and goals. I'd start with
* A brochure page -- This is interesting because... And that's where
your graphics are good. Maybe a little eye candy. Links to prospectus
pages for the various subsections.
* A set of prospectus / contents pages -- this is the site you want
to see because it has the benefits you seek. Eye candy? Maybe, but not in
the way.
* Core text on user-default screens in good layout. NO EYE CANDY.
* Back door index.
Just my opinion... Contrary opinions most welcome! Best make a fool
of yourself where they don't pay you! (Laughing!) But where other REAL
PROFESSIONALS like YOU, have their BRAINS ENGAGED and are willing to
discuss, argue, cajole, and otherwise present their opinions and their
rational for those opinions.
"I don't have to be right. But then we sign off on it, it has to
WORK!" - me. I learn and teach on every job I do. And I find it Sad then
I teach more than I learn.
I'm listening...
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