Okay, I may be in a lousy mood, and this is going to sound like a rant, so get ready!
If one more person builds a website without caring that it looks like crap, I don’t know what I’m going to do!
Recently, an artist friend contacted me because he wanted to start a new business. I was hopeful, because what I’m best at is a new business start-up, logo design and giving them, their identity… that all around consistent look. I also love working with the arts community. I spoke with him and we discussed various things, but… today I got an invite, and realized he had just pushed ahead with the site, without me. Now aside from losing a potential client, I went to look at the site to see what had been developed. To say I was disappointed and horrified is an understatement.
There are (links) pages that don’t even apply to his company. So does this mean he copied or worse, another site’s pages and is planning to just update the content when he has time?
What could he be thinking?
Why do people feel so urgent? Pushing their information out there, without any control to how it looks, or if it will attract an audience. This has really sent me into a depression, and the realization that on the web, content will always win over style. I suppose only on the web this may be true. When I’m looking for something or shopping, functionality and directness will always win over pleasing design and pictures. But don’t we want to push our content out there in a pleasing way?
There has to be a balance between the content being current and wanting it to look nice. We’ve got to make any client, whether an artist, musician, author, small business owner or fortune 500 company understand that these things go hand in hand. And an artist should know better!
I understand precisely what you’re saying. That artist is no exception. People are awfully unrealistic about the time and effort one needs to put into a website.
It is just like clothes. Some of us look in the mirror before we go out, some of us slap on trash. There is no accounting for taste. Worse yet is someone who puts a web site up just for arts sake. All flash, no content, not readable.
Many people feel that content is king. Conversely, there are many that know style is important. If you feel design and usability go together, then don’t do bad work. If a potential client wishes to go ahead with bad work, then hey-let them go.
Art, thanks for your comment, this person was never a client, they did the site themselves.