New Web Design Video Series

I’m working on developing a new web design video series wherein I dissect sites for design and user interface. The idea behind the series is to provide people with no web design experience a foundation for the form by way of critique, analysis, and suggestions for change. For those who are in the know, it will hopefully be mildly entertaining.

The concept was borne out of an interaction that I had with a good friend of mine, Sarena S., who recently applied to a documentary film program at a prestigious university (which shall remain unnamed… for now). She visited the website for the program and was reluctant to apply because it looked terrible. I described the site as “an 8th Grade computer art project that hadn’t been updated in 10 years.” I told her not to go by the site and visit the program director in person. Several weeks later she did and low and behold the program was amazing.

So, what are the lessons to be learned at this university?

Your website is probably the first thing a prospective students sees. Therefore, appearances are very important. I would argue strongly that children grow up these days with much more keen senses of design aesthetic in comparison to even a generation ago. Their understanding of design is subconsciously influenced by the abundance of visually stimulating experiences, the rise of personal computers, and haute design in every day products (see: Apple Computer). In the documentary film “Helvetica” by Gary Hustwit, there is a great comment made by a typographer. He said that if he asked someone 30 years ago what a type face was, they’d look at him with a strange look. However, if you asked someone today what they think about a font, that individual will probably have a lot to say about more than one font that they use.

After working at two universities, I do understand that money can be hard to come by for things such as marketing and the department website. However, before completely abandoning a decent looking site (which is possible for several hundred dollars), that department should really consider options like having a talented student design a site for them. That’s better than doing a garbage Dreamweaver template from hell. Or maybe even buy a templated content management system for several hundred dollars.

All in all, I look forward to producing this show in the hope that it will make people look at websites and their experience online more critically. Web design is a form of art after all.

There will be more on this to come…