Design in Mind...

[elfs]

I've been thinking about a redesign for my website. It's been a while, and there are a lot of new techniques I could exploit on the site, as well as some I could get rid of. I want the revision to communicate three things: I write, my works are SF/Fantasy, and my works are erotica. That's a big order.

So far, the only website I've found that I really liked so far of all the professionals' out there is William Gibsons. All the rest are so raw and, well, unsophisticated-looking; either that, or they're actually run by publishing houses with money to burn because the authors are serious names. And even then they don't do a good job.

Part of the problem is that I'm not a very visual person. I can analyze a really good site and show you what works and what doesn't, but I can't take that practical knowledge and turn it around creatively, which is very frustrating. It's one of the reasons I've always worked with a visual designer and been an interface person, the guy who hooks up the back end to the pretty pictures. It's a good job, but not the most prominent of visual arts.

Comments

[mothball-07.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem is that I'm not a very visual person. I can analyze a really good site and show you what works and what doesn't, but I can't take that practical knowledge and turn it around creatively, which is very frustrating.

Me too, and surprisingly many others. That's why designers have design catalogues of ideas. ;)

Start with something you like, possibly for another product, start adapting until you have something applicable (and different), then fix it. That way you're always in Editor mode. "I'd have put the navigation like this...used these colours...I'll need this set of links..." by the time you're done, it's new. I was stunned this was essentially plagiarism when I started doing design work, but it's pretty common to use this sort of inspiration as a springboard as long as the final product is unique.

[mothball-07.livejournal.com]

"I was stunned [because I assumed] this was essentially plagiarism..."

D'oh. Speaking of Editing.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm with you on the analysis, I can analyse a site from a usability point of view, and from effective use of colour and layout, and such like, based on the research on how human eyes track web-sites etc, but I'm not a visualy creative person.

I'm good at taking an existing idea and making it better, and I'm pretty OK using the tools, but not with getting the original inspiration.

I've found the best way is to hook up with someone who is, and work as a team, though you have to have a good relationship, so that you can explain to the creative person why they can't do something they like very much without them getting miffed.

I tend to think of myself as a sort of "visual editor" in these sorts of working relationships. One of the reasons even the big money sites are sometimes not so good, is that many people don't understand that the creative talent need "editing", by a usability expert like that, or they don't understand usability at all! :)

Because of my lack of creativity (and also because there are some good usability reasons), when working alone I personally prefer to create simple plain text sites with just a touch of colour and formatting applied to sections via CSS and maybe a few icons, like ESR's site, or the W3C web. I find the Colour Scheme Designer at WellStyled.com invaluable as well.

A Writer's Site I Admire

[(Anonymous)]

It may not be your thing, but I like Neil Gaiman's site a lot.

http://neilgaiman.com/

...and I miss the portrait of you from the halcyon.com era.