I had a further thought after writing my blog post about the iconic image of a red bicycle in the snow (What’s your red bicycle). A brilliant photographer could turn that isolated incident into a compelling photo. He would select the right lens, the right camera settings, and may even lie on the ground to get the right angle. Then after setting everything up, he would snap the shot.
Once a photograph is taken, it’s very hard to go back after the fact and change it. Once I’ve got a photo of the red bicycle on a snowy day, I can’t go back later and Photoshop in the rider. A great web design is very similar. The art director has considered your content and message from every angle and creates a unique design that presents your story in the best light.
In a sense, you can distinguish a great design from a bland design by how easy it is to edit afterwards. Consider the typical yearbook page. There is a series of boxes, and the editor is dropping pictures and text into the appropriate boxes. It’s very easy to rearrange people on the page, or exchange one person for another. At the same time, there is nothing inherently compelling about the design, and nobody would enjoy looking at yearbook pages unless they know the people involved.
In contrast, consider the photos that go on the cover of National Geographic, or the “Best pictures of the week” web pages that we all enjoy looking at in our down time. The pictures may be of any subject, but they are interesting to look at because they captured the moment in a way that tells a story. At the same time, it would be impossible to go back and change the picture content in any way and still have the same impact.
The next time you are designing your website, consider how this principle affects the design process. A template where all the elements are easily interchangeable is hard to make compelling, and great design can only be accomplished when a thoroughly skilled designer has considered your story and message from many different angles.
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