I can agree to a certain degree, innovation and pushing the envelope is healthy and good and fun and all. ..
HOWEVER, conventions are conventions for a reason. There is a REASON why books aren’t five foot wide and a reason why it has the spine to the left. On a website, i will try to scroll down, and i will look for a logo which takes me home in the upper left corner somewhere.
There are projects, such as art projects, campaign sites, portfolios etc that is suitable for innovative design.
But when i need information on a company or maybe a government organ, i want that information to be accessible, what i do NOT want is an “experience”. (And I do not want to scroll sideways. scrolling sideways sucks…)
The race to be as innovative as possible is what created splash-sites and other atrocities that people call “expiriences”, but that really just comes between the user and the information.
Fortunately the web isn’t a canvas. It has so much more potential in terms of user-input than a piece of paper. So, sure, push the boundaries and think outside the box, but remember to give the user a shortcut to the relevant content. When i look for opening-hours or adresses or other kinds of text content, i don’t want bells and wistles, I want information, and i want it presented in a readable, acessible way.
And on a second note, design isn’t everything, if you offer some kind of awsome functionality, a logo and a textfield on white background can go a long way…
Nils
I can agree to a certain degree, innovation and pushing the envelope is healthy and good and fun and all. ..
HOWEVER, conventions are conventions for a reason. There is a REASON why books aren’t five foot wide and a reason why it has the spine to the left. On a website, i will try to scroll down, and i will look for a logo which takes me home in the upper left corner somewhere.
There are projects, such as art projects, campaign sites, portfolios etc that is suitable for innovative design.
But when i need information on a company or maybe a government organ, i want that information to be accessible, what i do NOT want is an “experience”. (And I do not want to scroll sideways. scrolling sideways sucks…)
The race to be as innovative as possible is what created splash-sites and other atrocities that people call “expiriences”, but that really just comes between the user and the information.
Fortunately the web isn’t a canvas. It has so much more potential in terms of user-input than a piece of paper. So, sure, push the boundaries and think outside the box, but remember to give the user a shortcut to the relevant content. When i look for opening-hours or adresses or other kinds of text content, i don’t want bells and wistles, I want information, and i want it presented in a readable, acessible way.
And on a second note, design isn’t everything, if you offer some kind of awsome functionality, a logo and a textfield on white background can go a long way…