1 HOW TO MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND

I’m in the process of trying to build a reputation for myself and so while I’m trying to build that reputation, my rates are designed to be “enticing”. As one of those who enjoys paying attention to the details that matter, I feel I’m giving a better service for less money than many of my local rivals and it should be an easy sell.

The difficulty for me lies in trying to make potential – and even existing – clients understand this. That there’s a difference between a designer who sees design as making a site look nice in their browser of choice and one who takes a holistic approach to all aspects of accessibility, usability, semantic structure and browser interoperability as well as aesthetics. These are quite nebulous concepts to sell to people who just want to “get on the web”.

posted at 01:28 pm on February 3, 2009 by Phil Houghton

2 Well stated

Great article. Nice way to start my day.

posted at 03:50 pm on February 3, 2009 by jesse korzan

3 The Devil really is in the details...

Great job of describing the challenges perfectionist designers face on a regular basis. We know how important web standards are; how much more effective we can be when content is separated from presentation and behavior — but trying to explain that to most folks is difficult at best.

I have been fortunate to work in a corporate environment, surrounded by people who value good design, for the past 14 years. Not everyone understands things like unobtrusive JavaScript, or how important interaction cues are (subtle touches like :focus for form element, etc.) — and I don’t expect them to. They might not be able to fully communicate why they like something — but that’s OK. It’s my job to deliver the best product possible, if someone really notices the nuance, well, that’s a nice bonus.

Thanks again for a great read.

posted at 03:58 pm on February 3, 2009 by Bob Prokop

4 Could not have put it better

I’ve spent the last two years convincing my ex-boss that the details really do matter. He was the type that would put a site up, and then decide he wanted the same design on another site, so he’d copy all the code, and start tweaking things in DreamWeaver to match the new site. It would damn-near give me a heart attack,“Stop doing things half-ass” I’d say. After we had 50-75 sites and were making changes to them often, he saw the importance of getting the details correct early on. If you change something into spaghetti and then try to change that spaghetti into something else, the result it not pretty.

posted at 04:57 pm on February 3, 2009 by Jupiter Florida

5 Communicating with Detail...

I think you have really nailed the over-arching difference between successful, progressing designers and those who simply maintain the status quo.

In your statement of qualities around the best designers I think you are highlighting something very important. Being a “detail-oriented” designer is about so much more than the visual, it is about communication.

Being able to articulate and understand the details of an important project is a must. Designers need to provide detailed criticism (or support) that transcends visual subjectivity. We must understand what our clients are imagining and exceed those expectations.

All of these things require being a detail-oriented communicator as much as (if not more than) one’s eye for visual details.

posted at 05:14 pm on February 3, 2009 by Chris Meeks

6 All this for the low low price of...

Great article. I have found that clearly defining everyone’s expectations helps remove some of the pressure of everything landing squarely on the designer’s back.

You left out that we are in many cases expected to know nearly every CMS system, programming language, web application and why your boss is not getting email right now.

posted at 06:11 pm on February 3, 2009 by Richard Johnson

7 Thank You

Thank you everyone for your comments so far. I do agree that communication is what separates day-to-day designers from truly successful designers. And yes, unfortunately, the knowledge requirement list for web designers and developers these days is disparagingly long.

posted at 07:13 pm on February 3, 2009 by Kevin Potts

8 Untitled

Nice detailed illustration for this article ;p

posted at 08:32 pm on February 3, 2009 by Jorge Mesa

9 Exactly.

Yes, the bar is set high, and many (most?) of the people who matter from a business perspective are “shockingly uncreative” (very well put, btw); how is this really different from the state of the onion say, five years ago? This isn’t meant as a slap against the article; we do need reminders of just this sort on a depressingly regular basis.

What is changing, at least for some of us, is that the clients are starting to understand the value of “doing things right”, and it’s no longer consistently impossible to get them to pay for same. This is being driven, as much as by anything, by new, “alternate” browsers and platforms. I met with a prospect recently who had just launched his company’s site last November; he was absolutely livid that it was completely unusable from his iPhone or his CFO’s BlackBerry. All of his professional circle use handheld “Web-capable” devices; he sees trends as well as anybody and understands that non-traditional (non-IE-on-desktop-Windows) usage is only going to keep growing.

The original article implies that the obsession with detail from the print design days is inconsistently applicable today, while pointing out that the people who still have that eye are (generally) the stars of our craft today. I believe that that inconsistency will continue to diminish rapidly as clients become immune to the “get-on-the-Web-thingy-*NOW*!!!” snake-oil pitch. When they start casting a (reasonably) objective critical eye on our work, and demand the benefits that only consistently come from good, clean design and development work, then those of us who have worked to maintain high standards through the Dark Ages of the Web will be the ones who come out on top.

It makes for a nice gospel, anyway.

posted at 12:28 am on February 4, 2009 by Jeff Dickey

10 Peer review

Nothing bothers me more than someone who pretends to have reviewed my work and says it is perfect. Web design is too difficult to get it right without a few iterations. Please, just tell me you don’t want to help.

P.S. I read the first 4 chapters of your book (so far) and I find it very useful.

posted at 01:09 am on February 4, 2009 by Marc Poulin