What Is Web Design?
Dragan on 11. May '08 3
To me design has always been more of a craft than an art form. I have also always separated the ‘showcase’ design – the l’art pour l’art kind, from the “real thing” meaning design in service of the product. That being said – I define design (in general, not just graphic, Web or industrial) as a very creative craft.
Why Is Design Not Art
It is not art because it is in service to something else – a product, or in our case the product would be content. It has a higher purpose to promote or deliver, it comes second to the product. At least this is how it should be. Design should never upstage the content, that’s what Mr. Zeldman would call decoration (we love you Z).
Your job as a Web designer is to bring out the best in content and present it in the most usable and accessible way possible. That’s Web design.
Agreed.
Art doesn’t care for anyone except itself and doesn’t make any compromises (and it shouldn’t).
But Web Design cares, and therefore makes compromises – which can hardly be genuine art.
— kaske 11. May 2008, 21:47 #
@kaske – definitely, sometimes design is hardly noticeable at all, and that’s what makes it so good.
— Dragan Babić 12. May 2008, 16:16 #
Jeffrey Zeldman has a great quote on what web design is:
“Web design is the creation of digital environments that facilitate and encourage human activity; reflect or adapt to individual voices and content; and change gracefully over time while always retaining their identity.”
— Carl 4. June 2008, 06:57 #