Design Journal 6: Style over Structure?
Sorry folks, today’s Design Journal won’t be about the redesign, but instead, about an issue which concerns me greatly.
I recently purchased two new Web Design Index books, that called “Web Design Index” (very original name) from the Peppin Press which feature a nice selections of websites organized by different categories.
If I were to choose the websites for a book of this sort, I would be much more selective. Some of the designs chosen, are indeed original, in terms of layout and overall look, but most of them also sacrifice having a proper structure entirely.
I have absolutely nothing against being artistic with your website. But with some of the designs I’ve seen on this book there are several basic interface rules that are broken:
The structure changes almost entirely between the different sections.
Some websites have numbers representing the different pages of the website, with no other identification other than the address.
Other have really big and nice wallpapers, and all of the content is jammed inside a tinny semi-transparent box with “scroll buttons”.
I’m not by far the best web designer in the world, nor am I even close to that. But I would never sacrifice a good structure, that helped the user interact better with a website for a difficult or unconventional one for the sake of style alone. Unless the single purpose of your website is to entertain the visitor visually.
There are exceptions, like 2advanced studio’s website. The layout is a bit unconventional, although it’s somewhat structured, but the aim of the site is to visually appeal visitors and to demonstrate the kind of services that they can provide.
If you can design a site that is as visually appealing as theirs, then yes, you can sacrifice the structure a little bit for the sake of a good visual appeal. But as I mentioned before, they are an exception.
How far can I change the structure without making the website a maze to navigate?
Well, I think that a picture, on in this case a website, is worth a thousand words.
The link above directs you to Wolfgang Bartelme’s website.
On the front page you will have the beginning of the latest article, and just below, a few links to the articles before it. When you click on an article’s title, you will notice that the whole structure below the banner changes, and that was one of the bad things I mentioned about some design focused sites.
So why does it “work” in Bartelme’s site?
I never thought I’d ever quote myself, but if you ever read that long text in the index page of my website, you will find this on the first paragraph:
When you first arrive to an unknown site, even if you don’t notice, you will always ask yourself four questions: Who? What? Why? and How? and the text that follows this is precisely the answer for each of those questions.
Let’s look at this Bartelme article, as an example.
Do we know whose website it is? Yes, we do.
Do we know what the website is about? We immediately think that the website is about Design, and it is. Even though it doesn’t have an explanatory tagline, like the one I have, the content of the site becomes evident almost immediately.
I could go on, but I think you get the picture.
Even though the “body” of the site changes depending on the section, the most important part, which is the navigation, and the header (in the case of this particular design), remains the same. You can always identify where you are and easily return to where you were.
Certainly, there ways to make the website better, in terms of navigation. But for a website with such simplicity, it isn’t necessary unless it starts to grow beyond it’s boundaries and becomes more complex.
When I made this website, I didn’t really consider whether such elements were necessary, and when I look back at it now, I could easily remove 80% of the links that clutter the site. That is why the redesign will have such a fresh and simple look, compared to the current look of the website.
How can you prevent making your website as cluttered as this one?
Think about your target audience, and what your needs will be. For a website like mine, with only 4 pages (which will be reduced to three), you don’t need to make it very complex. In fact, with such a small number of pages, you are given more liberty in how you can give your visitor the information he needs.
