Design Philosophy

Simple is good.

This site could have all the bells and whistles in the world. I could show off every trick I know. And if I did, you would be looking at them and not reading this.

I have been a web user for longer than I've been a web designer. Since day one, I thought that too many people were interested in decorating and showing off, rather than trying to communicate. Everyone was so excited to say "look, it does this!" that they never asked "do we want it to do this?"


Remember These? Someone thought they were a good idea.



Someday soon, many of today's common "design principles" will seem just as silly.



I apologize for that, but I hope it illustrates the point.

Today's web is filled with the same problem of yesterday's web: too much decoration, not enough communication. Communication is the real value of the web: instant and far-travelling opinions, ideas, and commercial interests.

Each site I design is suited to the customer's desires, and if you like tricks I have a whole bag. Some pizzaz can be a good thing, especially when it draws attention where you want it. My personal taste is a balance, a "walking the line" where the final design is attractive and exciting, but never detracts from the purpose: communicating.

A nice side-effect of this design aesthetic is that clean and simple HXTML/CSS coding loads very quickly. Many of the people designing on the web use programs like Dreamweaver and FrontPage. Some programs are worse than others, but they all insert extra code -- extra code means extra waiting time for your visitors. Extra waiting time means loss of interest.

I design in a fancy, expensive program called "Notepad." The only time I use any other program is for a specific element, like Flash movies or Photoshop images.

Over time, I've developed a few guidelines:

The 3-Click Rule

I give a website three clicks, and if I can't find what I'm looking for I go search. Many web users do the same thing. Everything should be findable within three clicks.

Function Trumps Form

Some of my favorite pages are ugly. Is there anything special about Google's appearance? No, but it doesn't matter: it is fast, readable and consistent. The same can be said for hundreds of very popular ugly sites. Beauty is a valuable thing, but not as valuable as functionality.

Content is King

Have you ever clicked away from a site, and five minutes later you can't remember the name, or any specifics of what it was saying, but you can still see it in your mind?

Someone thinks that is a good design; I don't. You aren't hiring me to get your visitors to remember my design, are you? You're hiring me to help them remember you, and what you're trying to say.

You can take a look at some more examples of web horror here.