Tibor Kalman on Social Responsibility (Web Site Design)

It would have been funny if he had actually said it the way you said he did. But he didn't, so it's not funny.

Bush falling off a Segway scooter: funny. Bush dropping his dog: funny. A quote from Bush that would make him look dumb if only it were something he actually said: not funny. See the pattern?
 
Re Kalman:
Style continues to replace substance. :shrug:

Re Bush:
I do not think now, nor have I ever really thought there was anything funny about him. It's frightening to me that the real powers in this country can put a maroon like that in the Whitehouse, and actually get support for it. Okay, the Segway thing was marginally funny in a "what will the moron do next" kind of way. I do agree that the constant knee jerk responses get tiresome.
 
ris said:
in the wider design community this is a sad and infuriating reality.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the threads been hijacked so the chances of getting them to talk about anything but dubya... now there's a subject with no content... are slim. :shrug:
 
chances of getting them to talk about anything but dubya... now there's a subject with no content
Click to expand...
Sorry Aunty, you are correct. My ideas of design tend to flow along utilitarian lines. My wife just hates this. For me, a computer is an excellent tool, but I see Kalman's point too.
 
but isn't that Kalman's point? :confused:

it's a tool that is not being used with the highest and best intentions...that content is ignored in favor of quick flashy payoffs...
 
utilitarian need not mean dull or styleless. the idea that form follows function is a useful principle best infused with elegance, invention and delight.
 
The typical online viewer is more affected by shiney than functional, IMO.
Click to expand...

To certain extent Squiggy. I quickly exit any site that flashes hefty graphics at me yet refuses to provide me with the simple link i look for. Crude design, no matter how asthetically challenged, that serves it's purpose fast is still preffered by customers who lack time and more importantly patience. Some buisness sites need to read this article.

Since the gambling sites and the porn sites have the most money, they get the best looking sites.
Click to expand...

???? has he ever seen any gambling and porn sites.....those are shitty designed crapholes.

that content is ignored in favor of quick flashy payoffs...
Click to expand...

Well to be fair most sites that employ this technique offer next to nothing anyway. The clothing company sites could stand to be a little less chic in their web design.
 
if gambling sites are anything like the confused strobelight affected popups that i get from time to time then any correlation between volume of money and quality of design for the web product can quickly be eradicated.
 
Surely a well-deisigned web-site should be functional and easy to navigate and provide you with the information you need while being asthetically pleasing to the eye. There's really very little need for flash movies unless they tell you something of the content.

Personally I like clean, simple designs. Garish backgrounds hurt my eyes and are a definate turn-off.
 
If there's one thing I leard from www.webpagesthatsuck.com back in its glory days (it was the first bulletin board I ever joined, back when it had one), it's that you need put put up everything the user needs, and nothing the user doesn't.
 
Inkara1 said:
If there's one thing I leard from www.webpagesthatsuck.com back in its glory days (it was the first bulletin board I ever joined, back when it had one), it's that you need put put up everything the user needs, and nothing the user doesn't.
Click to expand...

The problem occurs with the 15-second rule. Sometimes you need the big flash in order to catch their eye long enough to get the point across. Once they've visited your site once and know that they can get the info that they want, THEN you can cut the flash with a simple button called "Skip" on the page.

If your site doesn't have any flash to it, then it becomes lost in the internet along with the info that you're trying to put across. It's trying to find the line between gaudy and great that makes the GD (Graphic Design) job a difficult one.
 
Aunty Em said:
There's really very little need for flash movies unless they tell you something of the content.
Click to expand...

I'm actually working on the FLash-only site design for the web. Most of the motion comes in from buttons (roll-overs), or the way a page transfers from one to the other. The rule of thumb is...if it doesn't have to move...keep it static. It should only move once instead of continuously. Use motion like you would headlines...catch the eye or differentiate it from the rest of the text/page. THe goal is to make the site faster to navigate.
 
Assuming a first time visitor, my theory would be to capture their interest long enough to subliminally lead them, through curiosity, to the message you have for them. Any and all 'neccessary' linkage should be understated but ever present so as to allow the user his/her proper escape route to accomplish his/her goal...Its not a question of gaud vs subtle but more the age old trick of advertising...mind control.
 
Squiggy said:
Assuming a first time visitor, my theory would be to capture their interest long enough to subliminally lead them, through curiosity, to the message you have for them. Any and all 'neccessary' linkage should be understated but ever present so as to allow the user his/her proper escape route to accomplish his/her goal...Its not a question of gaud vs subtle but more the age old trick of advertising...mind control.
Click to expand...

I don't feel taht its necessarily a matter of mind control so much as the only way to get the attention of the 'remote-control' generation of A.D.D. poster children. Sites have to begin looking like video games with full interractivity for them to be visted the second time, and although search engines are great and all, word of mouth is always a more powerful marketing tool than Google could ever be.

If a site is cool enough or fun enough, it'll get posted on places like OTC, or spread around via email, regardless of its content. People with little or no interest in the topic of 'Dynamic Theorum regarding Hominid Family Structures' might actually visit a site on the subject which is designed with the term 'fun' in mind, while a site dedicated to Doom IV but made in straight ascii HTML would be avoided at all costs.

My goal in life is to make the charities and the hard-science pages appear more fun/cool to visit, catch them in the fun and THEN lead them to the nitty-gritty. Get more kids involved in the imagination needed to solve the unification theory rather than wasting away their hours trying to get past level 40 in Quake or Half-life.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top