Quoted by 37signals on September 1 2010:
If you ask an artist why, the greatest artists will tell you, “Well, it was beautiful. It inspired me. It touched me. It reminded me of this or that.”
But you ask a designer why and he says, “Well, I’ve got these 15 different things that all have to coexist in this 800×600 pixel area. And if I do this, that doesn’t work. If I do this, it breaks the other thing. So in order for these three things to be in harmony, I have to do that…”
That points more and more to the challenge to somebody who’s trying to get into or who’s trying to get a job doing UI design, that it’s not about looking at screen shots. Because then you’re putting yourself in the graphic design box.
It’s about your ability to describe problems and your ability to show how it is that a design that you did worked. And if you can show the reasoning and the different relationships between the elements, then you can show that you really know something.
Got a web design project in mind? Find a web designer on Sortfolio. Browse by visual style, portfolio, budget, and geographic location.
Over 1 million people use 37signals' simple web-based software to collaborate on projects, track contacts, and organize their business with an intranet.
3 comments so far
Jason Klug 01 Sep 10
Great thoughts! The last paragraph is especially well stated.
Mike Riley 02 Sep 10
This is something I agonize over every time I have to work with a new designer. Web design is not the same thing as traditional art, it can’t be approached like traditional art, nor is it evaluated (by your average internet citizen) as traditional art.
Kris Lynch 03 Sep 10
As a user that would click the optional link to see the survey, I would also then be happy to answer the one question given the simple clean design… However, I would want to know that I could elaborate on my answer before choosing…. Often when I have a mixed experience and there is no obvious way to express this (loved the Agent’s attentiveness but think that the service was poor because the Agent couldn’t help me) I will simply skip the survey. Therefore I suggest that the design could only benefit from some single line on the first screen noting that there will be opportunity to elborate on your experience if you choose. Either that or simply insert the free-form box visibily on the same page and activate it only once a choice is made. I do really like the simplicity and clarity expressed in your presentation.
Comments are closed