Gregory Koberger :: the blog

Over the past few months, I’ve been redesigning the website for my high school.  I spent hours making sure it was exactly how I wanted it, right down to the pixel.  In my opinion, it came out really well.  It was huge improvement over the current website, and probably my favorite design I have ever done.

Proud of my work, I began to show it off to people from my high school.  Their reactions varied- some thought it was okay, while others said they hated it.  Nobody, however, liked it.

I was outraged- how could they think the current clunky 1990s-style Dreamweaver-made eyesore was better than my clean, usable redesign?

But the more I thought about it, though, the more I realized they were not wrong. I was.  I have spent too much time looking at web startups and CSS galleries, and am out of touch with how real people perceive web design.

People in the tech world mock MySpace, and the horrible layouts it hosts.  However, most people have a “MySpace Mentality” in regards to design.  After all, every designer has a Geocities site to prove they started the same way.

When people saw my redesign, they thought it was “plain” and “not colorful enough.”  What I thought of as white space, they thought of as room for a few more blinking gifs.  What I saw as good typography, a subtle color pallet, and usable navigation, they saw as boring.

In the real world, people like Comic Sans- it’s playful.  They like moving and flashing things- it’s engrossing.  They like clashing bright colors- it’s eye catching.

It was depressing to realize this.  What I considered a beautiful layout was considered plain and boring by everyone else.  Non designers have a “more is better” approach when it comes to design.  The more information and images and colors you can fit into the browser, the better the layout.

People don’t make “bad” MySpace layouts because they can’t do any better- they do it because they actually like it that way.

So, my high schools site is now being redesigned and implemented by a non-developer and non-designer, and it’s going to be done in Dreamweaver.  And most people will probably like it more.

Hey, at least now I have something nice for my portfolio.

I have a simple rule when it comes to deciding if a design is finished: would I put it in my portfolio?

I used to be pretty good at convincing myself my latest work was “good enough”- deadlines, boredom and difficulty definitely encourage such rationalization.  I used to ignore that voice in the back of my mind that said it just wasn’t there yet.  Since I started trusting my gut instinct, I’ve found myself asking “what was I thinking?” a lot less often.

Everyone will tell you “bad isn’t the enemy of good, perfection is”- and that’s definitely true.  But all to often, it’s used as a cop-out.  An excuse to release something that’s not quite up to par.

So, next time you’re wondering if you’re done- is it good enough to land you your next gig?  Are proud enough to put it in your portfolio?  And, of course- remember to be honest.

When Marshall McLuhan wrote his famous phrase, “the medium is the message,” he was talking about about TVs, newspapers and radios.  However, his insights into how the medium influences how we perceive the message can just as easily be applied to modern day RSS feeds.

When running a website, a lot of work goes into creating an atmosphere.  The colors, fonts and layout of elements are carefully chosen to convey a certain tone to the reader.  When we use RSS, we strip out everything but just the words.  While no doubt an extreme example, it’s a bit like reading just the manuscript for a movie.

There are a lot of good things to be said about RSS- it’s an incredible example of how web standards can lead to innovation, and it can keep us from having to refresh our favorite websites constantly.  However, when we rip the text from the site, we lose a lot of visual cues- everything from quality to credibility can be gleaned from just looking at a layout.  The design of a website is just as important as the content- and often exceeds it.

So, as a blogger, how can you get people to go to your site rather than subscribe?  Try adding features that can’t be reproduced using RSS- Digg has an RSS feed, however I would wager that most people go straight to the site.  Or, try posting on a rigid schedule (and keeping it!).  Users will know exactly when to check your site to get fresh content (and don’t ever add “extra”, unscheduled posts- it may seem like a treat for your users, however it defeats the whole purpose).