Web Design? Screw Aesthetics

What is design?

Design is the process of finding the most elegant answer to the question of 'how do I?'

Paul Scrivens

When I talk about design I try to do more than mention the aesthetic/visual aspect of it, but it seems people tend to focus on that aspect the most. Web design however adds many more elements to the elegant answer that we are so frantically searching for. When I design a painting, all I have to worry about is the message of the painting. This involves colors and images. Although a great painting is hard to achieve we can not argue that there isn't really more to it.

Designing a great website that delivers the right message means that we have to look into the colors, typography, imagery, information architecture, information design, usability, accessibility, resolution on different screens and browser compatibility. All of these factor into how a user sees our creation and forms their opinion of it.

Sometimes ugly/mediocre visuals work because the design works. That is good design.

That seems to be the argument that some people are making in regards to what is good design. I don't buy it. When I wrote about how many aspects of web design have hit the commodity stage I was hoping some of the arguments would justify why I was wrong. When Google is brought up as an example of mediocre design that succeeds, people come out from the woodworks to argue that it is actually great design and base it on the success that they have had. I don't believe it.

It is good design, but it could be better. Google was fortunate that every other search engine on the planet acted more as a web portal and their search technology was horrible. It was as if the old search engines were beautiful cars with egg-shaped wheels, while Google was the ugly car with perfectly round wheels. It's technology was better and the design helped you get what you needed. That doesn't mean it was the best design for the job however and that is where many people make the mistake of thinking that it is okay to get away with good enough design.

It's silly to think that good results mean that you can't improve.

Needs More Rounded

Do you think that the reason designers love rounded edges is because visually they look better? Well, that is probably the reason most of them do, but did you also know that rounded edges are easier for our eyes to process than corners? Same with pleasing color schemes. Go figure.

Color theory goes into great detail how different colors effect our emotions and vision. These are visual elements. These are part of design and this is why I still believe even successful designs can be improved upon if only at an aesthetic level.

Many of the successful websites out there already succeed on a usability and IA level. That is why they are successful. If a user can't use a website they simply won't use it. If they can't find what they are looking for then they won't use it. That is why successful websites can get away with low quality visuals at times. Web design is interactive and when you are interacting you need to make sure usability and the ability to accomplish the task (IA) are first and foremost.

We are surrounded by good enough design both on the web and in everyday life. I don't think as designers we should see a design that works and simply believe that it is good design because it does so. If there really isn't a better solution to the problem then maybe it really is good design or maybe we need to change our way of thinking. Most designers and their jobs are commodities simply because good enough design is so prevalent. The great designers go beyond good enough and strive for great and perfect design. They strive to find every possible solution and use the perfect one. The one that sets itself apart from the others.

Realistically though I know finding the perfect design on the first go around is near impossible so in the meantime we settle for good enough. The current design of this site is good enough and it bothers me. I'm sketching out version 2 now to hopefully get closer to that perfect design. It includes some accessibility changes, usability adjustments and visual enhancements because all of those elements play into the design. Web design is never one thing done well, it is a collection of qualities that come together that make the design solve a problem. Sometimes you can get away with one of those qualities being less than stellar.

Trust me, I know this, so no need to remind me every second. Web design will always be more than just aesthetics, unfortunately, the importance of aesthetics in achieving that final greatness get overlooked too often, so when I do speak of them understand that I do so knowing the role they play in achieving a level of greatness we very rarely see on the web.