Poor design or a clean well-lit place?
Posted by matt on 19 Sep 2006 | Tagged as: advertising, media, myspace, joshuaporter, lukewroblewski, functioningform, bokardo, design, visualdesign
Joshua Porter points to an interview he did with Luke Wroblewski of Functioning Form about Visual Design.
It’s a great read, but one idea in particular came to me after I read the following,
To bring it back to the design process, even if you deliberately don’t consider your site’s personality, it will end up with one anyway. The colors, content, and visual elements—or lack thereof—all make an impression on your audience, intentional or not. Therefore, it is in your best interests to be aware of the personality you are creating for your site and make certain it is sending a message you want.
I, and many others, have wondered why MySpace is so popular despite having inferior design to many other sites.
Well, sex, drugs and rock n roll is one answer, but that’s not what I mean.
Could it be that the personalities expressed by these MySpace pages are the personalities of average citizens, not web developers, marketing professionals or media folks of any kind?
Some like Hotel lounges, others like Dance clubs, Pubs, or clean kitchens. Inferior design here takes the personality of “friend,” whereas professional design bespeaks Media company.
That’s a place to get news or blockbuster movies, but not a place to hang out.
