Oct 13
Skip to the next talk in the series: Debug/Reboot by Eric Meyer
An Event Apart Day 1, 8:30-9:30 am:
- Real.com
- Issue: links don’t look like links, headings look like links
- Issue: pro marketing want ppl to not find free player, but other half want ppl to find it to crush competition. result: a site that does not match the user’s needs.
- consumersearch.com
- Feels like a phishing/spam site.
- A turn off – no warm feeling, no welcoming, no brand message, no welcome copy.
- Site assumes ppl know what the site is about – mistake! Ppl come via Google.
- Bad – drill in, the ads are in a spot, so your eye skips it, and then next page the navigation is there. Their eye is skipping, getting confused, they’ll want to leave if the learning curve is too long
- “It’s rough out there for a web designer.”
- Account executive pressures company to create ad campaign that appeals to seven ppl on the board. “When will we appeal to the consumer?” AE:”Never” WHAT?! That’s how it goes. Try to have empathy for the user, but sometimes roadblocks make it hard.
- Survey Analysis
- Is education relevant?
- If you make more money, you’re more likely to say that what you did in school has no bearing on what you do. Weird logic, but true.
- Perhaps because salary increases as you get older, ppl are older and haven’t been able to study web 20 years ago. “Can study candlemaking, but not web design” haha.
- We don’t agree on our own titles.
- “Other” had 15.7% of response.
- Most were developers.
- Old institutions have normal titles, startups make up weird super-specific titles.
- Want to describe what you do rather than what niche you fit into
- Who owns the website?
- What department owns up to it? Very few “Web Department”s
- Not a lot of dough
- Women who feel there is prejudice against them had big jobs and big salaries. Converse for low jobs and low salaries
- Cycle through more sites, laugh and criticize the silliness. webby awards pages
- coca-cola.com
- Splash screen, with then a decision location page, and then a survey prompt for a survey.
- Zeldman thus closed the browser window right away, doesn’t deserve another click. irritation. give them a reason to stay, or wow them immediately, but don’t shove stuff down their throat without giving something back of value.
- adobe spinning monkey
- If as a user I don’t understand what you’re trying to do, I can’t learn anything from your web design
- Emailed the webby awards to find out why these won
- “If the he web” rofl. Rest of message, they were totally grasping at straws. Screenshot the slide later. Hehe.
- All ppl know about web design is “Facebook” “Twitter” “Microsoft is buying Yahoo” these are not real. They are transient, like banks buying banks and economic downfall and blah blah blah.
- Shows the generic blogger template, used by The Leukemia Letters. THAT is iconic landmark design, where everyone who uses it, it feels like it matches their content and it presents it well, enhancing the content.
- “Who’s heard a guitar solo?”…. the “guitar solo” approach to design and dev.
- Young designers do the guitar solo. But…
- “Good design is invisible.”
- Reflections, glow, etc, that’s a current trend, that’s not a new idea. You’re being copy-cat.
- “Good web design is about the character of the content…” – like that blogger template from The Leukemia Letters – bring out the content.
- Tips
- Start with the user / your passion
- Just like with music. you write your own songs, but there’s a chance that someone will discover you. Passion.
- Or, if you’re just a cover band, no one will listen to you and you’ll eventually have to go get a real job. No passion, no matter how much you love the music you’re covering, you’re not creating/innovative.
- Let your design be new/innovative. You may not have success immediately, but it comes.
- Know yourself and your limitations
- Never take a job just because you need a job, unless you’re ABSOLUTELY desperate.
- Zeldman banters with the client before signing them on. Sometimes the client doesn’t like that, and they lose the job, but that’s okay because they wouldn’t have had a good working relationship.
- Sell ideas, not pixels
- In discussion, never describes what it looks like, but sell the idea behind it.
- Sell an approach.
- “I don’t know” is okay.
- Find a client where “I don’t know” is ok. It is ok to say “I don’t know, we’ll think about it I’ll come back later.”
- When you work with a client that is wrong, they think you’re not doing your job. If it’s not an ok answer, you may have the wrong project.
- Build trust
- Bring out the big guns
- It’s ok to bring in consultants, publications, etc. “We’re doing this because it’s advised by this expert.”
- They never are going to read that documentation, but that’s the magic. They say, “OH! Ok.” And they are now reassure and trusting you.
- Create a paper trail
- You can show the steps of where you are
- Something here…
- Say no to working on spec
- don’t work for free!
- No showing ppl design before getting paid
- Say no to rush jobs
- They’ve had meetings and have delayed
- They’ll never come up with enough money to make up for how it’s going over because of their lateness.
- End with the user / your passion
Read the next talk in the series: Debug/Reboot by Eric Meyer
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