Don’t Forget Design
Saturday, January 8th, 2005 by MR
Things have been slow-going around here as of late, and that’s not because we’ve run out of things to say. We’ve been busy with a lot of internal and client-facing projects, and hopefully we’ll be able to show y’all soon. We were talking recently and wondering, where did real design go? When did “having a company weblog” not involve real design? Did people forget that a weblog is just a type of website? It appears so, at least from stuff I’ve seen lately, and it’s a trend that really bothers me.
Paul wrote about how just having a weblog isn’t the only thing needed for it to be successful. The design and aesthetic appeal of a website still counts for something, doesn’t it? I can’t tell you how many corporate blogs, weblog companies, or “important weblogs” are still run by a slightly-modified Movable Type, TypePad, or Wordpress templates. If someone can’t put the time into making their weblog look like it didn’t just jump out of a “Start Your Blog Now!” box, then what makes me think they’ll take the time to write for it? If you don’t have a designer on your team, then please, for the sake of all users, find a nice designer and outsource the design of your blog to them. Don’t skimp on the design, it’s not worth it.
Take the time to do more than just take the “off the shelf” route. True, get up and going, but as much as writing is about comminication, so is design.
Reader Comments
10 Responses to “Don’t Forget Design”
This is the unique selling advantage that sets you apart from other blog consultancies, don’t you think?
January 8th, 2005 at 4:11 pm
Thanks, Ty, always nice to hear. This post wasn’t about differentiating ourselves from our competitors, but rather an effort to get people to stop leaving good design out of the equation for a successful weblog effort.
January 9th, 2005 at 4:11 am
Part of it is the aura of authenticity that doing it yourself has.
If it looks slightly modified, then chances are it is, which means this wasn’t an effort by the company. It’s an individual effort, and can be read as more “real” that way.
January 9th, 2005 at 5:24 pm
For company weblogs, I’d suggest that their site’s design is just as important in the communicative effort as the words they use in each weblog post. Good design indicates that someone actually spent time, money, and creative energy on it, as opposed to just pulling a default template out and pushing it live.
Individual weblogs, on the other hand, are a different matter. Not many people feel it’s worthwhile to hire a designer to design their personal weblog unless that site is their brand in which case it might not be a bad idea. But since web designers were the ones who first started with weblogs, most weblogs you see are well-designed simply because that is the designer’s outlet to the outside world, showcasing their best work.
January 9th, 2005 at 7:40 pm
“Did people forget that a weblog is just a type of website?”
Funny, I had this discussion with someone this weekend - it went deeper than design but that is one facet where a difference can be made.
People don’t seem to have a problem running the last XX posts in a list in the column next to the main article of their blog; so why then don’t we just do the same with our websites?
I can see it now <h2>Site Map</h2> in the sidebar of every page of our next site ;-)
January 9th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
I’m about 80% convinced that people are not posting comments on WebWord as much as they once did because the design is nasty. Well, to be fair, the CMS is nasty, and it has been rather constricting on the design. So, in my case, I want to redesign to encourage more comments on WebWord. Maybe I’m blathering on because I want to ask this question: How does the design of a blog impact the number of comments generated?
January 10th, 2005 at 10:08 am
(peep jumps in)
IMO, being able to read the discussion going on in the comments helps.
On this site, the flow from one comment to another is smooth, evident without being obnoxious, and encourages me to read them all (even if it’s something Rundle posted ;-).
Stopdesign is another good example, in more than just the comments. Look at the typography on that site, how he uses various colors and font-sizes to help the eye organize things…
For me that site is very usable, in that I get it visually.
Back to the comments, nothing gets in the way so I’m encouraged to read and comment. A lot like many other aspects of webdesign, I suppose, don’t make it hard on the end user…
January 10th, 2005 at 10:29 am
While I completely agree that many company blogs are lacking in their design, I’m not so sure that the majority of businesses have ever truly realized the benefits of having a well designed WEBSITE… much less a well designed blog.
You inspired me to elaborate on this… I wrote about it in my blog.
January 11th, 2005 at 12:08 am
some people in the blogosphere (at least over here in France) actually argue that blogs should be minimalist in their design, like some sort of ‘blog’ trademark… weblogsinc is a good example of this. I love beautifully designed sites but with weblogsinc, I suppose the idea is that content is the only thing that matters (although, having said that, there is I suppose a fair amount of design in their sites)..
What do you think?
Christophe
January 11th, 2005 at 10:14 am
I think there are two things at matter here, one being that design matters when conveying info, and a certain level of quality design in a site is a Good Idea.
Having a beautifully designed site where content is what matters isn’t some impossible goal. I have a feeling that it’s what Mike said above: that some people simply don’t sweat the design too much and go with something fairly out of the box (which is what weblogsinc looks like to me).
January 11th, 2005 at 11:51 am
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