Layout and Graphic Design
The best websites are useful and uglyJuly 23, 2007: Functionality and usefulness are far more important to the success of your website than how nice and elegant it looks. More
Are websites judged in the blink of an eye?
January 30, 2006: People can get a strong impression of your website within one twentieth of a second, according to a new study. But it may not be a lasting impression. More
Usability doesn't have to be ugly
November 07, 2005: There is a balance that needs to be struck between a website that is truly functional and one that is elegant and stylish. More
Graphic design plays a minor role on the Web
October 24, 2005: The best websites are highly functional. They are task-focused. Graphic design has an important, though limited role. Don’t try and force the Web to be what it’s not. More
Words come before looks in web design
January 26, 2004: Advertising agencies tend to design awful websites because they are obsessed with getting attention. When people come to your website, you have already got their attention. They want to do something. They want detail. They want facts. The thing they value most is their time. So don’t waste it. More
Web design: never let an ad agency near your website
January 19, 2004: The average advertising agency fundamentally doesn’t get the Web. Saatchi & Saatchi, BBDO Worldwide, J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy are great advertising agencies. When it comes to managing their own websites, however, they are rank amateurs. They bring their print and TV thinking to the Web with embarrassing results. More
Information architecture: webpage mental maps emerge
October 13, 2003: When people come to your website they have a mental map of how their 'ideal' webpage should be. They expect to see certain things in certain places. They expect to read certain killer words in your classification and content. The more you meet their mental map, the more successful your website will be. More
Fast-downloading websites are still important
April 21, 2003: People are impatient on the Web. They are function and task orientated. They want to get things done as quickly as possible. The average person is still accessing the Web over a 56 KB modem. You should therefore have a major focus on 'light' webpages if you want to increase reader-satisfaction. More
How important is the look 'n' feel of your website?
December 16, 2002: The look 'n' feel of your website is important. However, it is less important than your text-based content. In most commercial websites, the role of the traditional graphic designer is relatively minor. The role of the information architect is central. The role of the editor and author is critical. More
Iterative design can be lazy design
June 10, 2002: Iterative design is a popular approach to website design. It generally involves getting something up quickly, analyzing the results and making improvements based on that analysis. This can make sense in an environment that little is understood about. That is no longer the case with the Web. More
Examples of cool web design
April 15, 2002: An essential focus of web design is the effective communication of text-based content. Web design that is truly 'cool' seeks to organize and communicate information in innovative and useful ways. Quality web design is concerned with getting the right content to the right person at the right time and at the right cost. More
Design for stupid people
April 08, 2002: The days of the Web as a frontier for pioneers are over. In a growing number of countries, the Web reflects the society at large. Ebay, AOL and Yahoo have long designed websites that are simple and easy-to-use. Web design needs to focus on ordinary people who are relatively unfamiliar with the Internet. Simplicity of design is the number one characteristic of website design that works. More
Think twice before re-designing your website
January 14, 2002: The desire to 're-design' your website just because it looks 'out-of-date' may not simply be unnecessary but may also be counterproductive. Your most loyal customers will have got used to the layout and structure of your website. Launching a major new design risks confusing and alienating them. More
Web design basics
January 07, 2002: Web design is primarily concerned with the organization and presentation of text-based content. This requires metadata, classification, navigation, search, layout and graphic design skills. More
What the broadband meltdown tells us
December 10, 2001: The collapse of Excite@Home and so many other broadband companies spells out a very simple truth: There is currently not a sufficient number of consumers willing to pay for broadband to create a viable marketplace. More
Fast downloading, information rich websites
September 24, 2001: People who use the Web want pages that download quickly. They want websites that are full of useful information. They want to be able to customize these websites so that they can get to the information they want as quickly as possible. More
Waiting for broadband
August 13, 2001: Some websites still don’t get it. They behave as if broadband had already arrived, delivering large graphics, video, audio and animation. The reality is that for the average consumer broadband access is at least five years away. More
Boring is beautiful in Web design
April 02, 2001: Boring is beautiful on the Internet, because the Internet is a very functional place. Because of low bandwidth and time pressure, it works best when it is designed using a “bare bones” rather than “bells and whistles” approach. More
What is design?
March 26, 2001: If you designed a door whose handle was two inches off the floor you would soon find that out that your design would not work. If you designed a car whose steering wheel was in the back seat, you would soon find out that your design would not work. If you designed a chair whose seat was made of brittle glass, you would soon find out that your design would not work. More
Branding for dummies
March 19, 2001: People call me a Luddite. People say I hate design. People say I’ve no understanding of branding. People say I don’t ‘get’ the Web. And all because I wrote about Web designers being much more concerned about what their mates in the pub think than their customers; designing websites that are cool but useless. More
The Web for dummies
March 12, 2001: A great number of the people who design for the Web think that the average person who uses the Web is like them. What this means is that far too many websites are designed by designers for designers. The same problem has afflicted poetry over the last half a century. Poets started writing for other poets rather than for a general readership. The result is that more people now write poetry than read it. More
In praise of simplicity
December 11, 2000: We live in a world where change and complexity are forced on us at every turn. The world is hitting back. People are yearning for simplicity. People are tired of technology that constantly overcomplicates things, that is poorly designed and that is full of bugs. More
Laying out Web content
September 25, 2000: If you were to place the world’s 100 biggest selling English-language newspapers in a row, you would find no more than 2-3 layouts for the front page. There are only so many ways to properly lay out content, whether in a newspaper or on the Web. More
Clutter versus clicking in Web design
July 10, 2000: Current web design is framed by the central concern of saving time. The online reader belongs to the time-starved generation and any design which wastes their time risks losing them. More
13 things to know about broadband
May 08, 2000: Broadband is being forever hyped. We are constantly promised fat pipes that will deliver rich multimedia experiences. The reality for the average consumer is quite different. More
