Design for the Web: The Age of Digital New Media
In a post at Web Designer Depot, the folks at Web Hosting Search and designer & developer Ross Johnson pointed out that, “designers (right now are) continuing to push the boundaries of web design,” — transforming the web and how users engage with brands.
“Let’s face it: the web changes at a rapid pace. Unlike in other media, design trends on the web are not just driven by aesthetics. Technology is changing that can drastically alter the capabilities of the medium.”
I talked to a couple of web technologists and here are their thoughts:
“Naturally, we’re more wired to dealing with print than web … having interfaces that would seem more natural (paper/print) is (definitely) more usable,” says Chico, who leads the web development team at Exist. “I think the whole success of the iPhone (and iPad) and multi-touch devices can be attributed to their being “NUIs” or Natural User Interfaces.”
Applications, especially, web applications have great demand for intuitiveness. But when I think more about it, it’s always about aesthetics first. It starts at how you get the viewer’s attention and then how you maintain it — ergo, intuitiveness.
Chico adds: It’s still “don’t make me think” when I need to achieve something with an app.
A close friend of mine, one of the most brilliant designers that I know, mentioned: It’s difficult to “read on the web” that’s why it’s always a matter of how you deliver your message — rather, it matters how you deliver your message across the web. On print, it’s more on getting your point across through text as you can’t / don’t scroll down (if print).
“Most of the items listed (referring to the trends found on the article) are print design sensibilities — which are not really new coming from real world graphic design sensibilities,” stated Chico. He’s right. Except for the social media tooling integrations that we see, most of these trends aren’t really novel.
BUT there is a lot of value in monitoring and incorporating design trends, especially with regard to websites. I remain to be a big fan of emerging Internet technologies and explore these technologies vastly. In fact, one of the earliest things we had done, was the integration of Delicious in our Media Coverage section back in 2007. I never really thought much about it until I realized that other folks were implementing it too.
When I asked Chico about other trends, he said: I think the user interactivity animation of stretch/bounce/acceleration/deceleration hasn’t been applied that much yet to web design. Unless it’s Flash. The forthcoming popularity of HTML5 might just change this, IMO.
To be honest, I still think that there is a stereotype on sites that look like it was “designed for Web 2.0″ — that is, these sites are just for the newer brands… that these are for the creative agencies, 2.0 businesses, and the like. Sad, but true.
If you’re one of ‘em — I’m happy to talk to you out of it. Meantime, if you have a web project or know of folks who need help with their web projects, send (it) to my direction. Our web development team (at Exist) can help you figure out the components of your web application (or website for that matter) that meet your specific needs.
Here’s the complete Web Design Trends for 2010 article.
- BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
- « Post-Drupal Summer Meetup :: G2iX Tech Bar
- » Open Source and Exist — a remarkable history of feats
- BROWSE / IN Uncategorized
- « Post-Drupal Summer Meetup :: G2iX Tech Bar
- » Open Source and Exist — a remarkable history of feats
SPEAK / ADD YOUR COMMENT
Comments are moderated.
