Designers squabbling over praise
There’s a curious sense of detachment that comes with observing a spat between a group of people you’ve no involvement with. This afternoon I’ve been enjoying Brendan Dawes’ rant against sycophancy in UK web design circles. Here it is.
I’m no designer so I don’t have a great deal to comment on the opinions held, though the general consensus seems to endorse his views. But it has exposed me to some beautifully designed sites I’m very much impressed with.
Firstly, Brendan’s site, brendandawes.com, is a little form over function (it can be hard to know where to find the information you’re looking for), but there are some great presentational toys to play around with. He also puts code snippets up there to try out – if I get a chance I’d love to try some of them out.
Brendan’s rant also led me to colly.com, which apparently has just had a redesign. I love the use of imagery and typeface on the site, and his explanation of his thought processes behind it made me want to have a good think about how I can make my sites look better.
Sadly, I’m a writer more than a designer, and I don’t really have the time, talent or training required to come up with something great. Most of my designs are adapted from ideas seen elsewhere, and I make no claims otherwise – my great love will always be for words rather than the way they’re presented.
There’s also a fashion barrier for me – web design seems to move pretty quickly, and if it would take me the best part of a year to come up with and execute an idea, the world would have moved on by the time it was ready to launch. Classic designs shouldn’t really change, but I’ve worked on enough websites over the years to know how something that was once a thing of beauty can very quickly look tired.
So I’ll remain on the sidelines, looking at great work and feeling in awe of it. And enjoying the occasional bunfight among some very talented people.