intranet job blog

The theory

I have a theory about how a ‘web designer’ (or anyone who creates web sites) evolves over their career.

Level one – Hello world

They start to play with the technology. Initially everything is very basic, and therefore reasonably usable. But they quickly learn ‘clever new techniques’ like marquees and image maps and as the pages get more complex, the usability and usefulness of the pages drops to nearly nothing. But that’s ok, the designer get satisfaction from ‘getting stuff to work’. They don’t really care about whether the end product is beneficial, it’s about showboating how well they have mastered the technology.

Level two – show me the money

One they have reached a level of technical adeptness their boss will give them a ‘proper job’ to do. Something important. As they work on this they start to realise that it’s not about technology but about people. They get frustrated that nobody can understand the ‘clever’ way their site works. They end up simplifying the pages, going back to basic techniques or plain text. Some of the love of technology dies at this point. But a new fascination sometimes starts with ‘good design’. Making a page elegant in its ability to look professional and give people the information they need. The designer starts to get satisfaction from positive feedback. People telling them that the site ‘looks good’

Level three – balance in all things

The designer starts to use ‘clever techniques’ to achieve an elegant page. They start to worry about things like load time, code efficiency, usability, accessibility etc. They realise that the ‘looks good’ praise they got was only from a small group of people. There were other groups who the site failed. To create a ‘good design’ for everyone needs the effective use of ‘clever technology’. They start to get satisfaction from creating something that ‘works’. Not just the technology working, but the page working for everyone. They are trying to balance the business objectives with the user objectives and the technical constraints.

Shortcuts to Level three

Do you identify yourself as a Level one or Level designer but want to get to level three? I wouldn’t recommend skipping the first levels all together, doing things ‘wrong’ is a great learning experience. But, you probably can accelerate your progress if this is where you want to get too.

First, focus on giving yourself motivation

Level three designers are motivated by seeing their creations work.

Spend time ‘watching people’ before, during and after you launch your site. See how people struggle before and then watch in glee as they’re problems go away using your new creation.

Keep things simple

Do one thing well. Don’t try and create the Swiss army knife of sites, just try and solve one problem at a time, it doesn’t even have to be a big problem.

Meet with and talk to other level three designers

Twitter, Facebook, Google groups, Linked in etc all have hundreds of groups, discussion boards and meetups. Socialising with these people gives you a place to ask questions, watch and learn.