Dandy

I’ve had a long love/hate relationship with new(not very)/digital/web media.. whatever you want to call it. Tough to get excited about, not like picking up a beautifully designed brochure with a lovely tactile cover - but that’s to miss the point.

It’s all too easy for ‘old skool’ designers to turn their nose up at this ‘digital’ media - that fact of the matter is it’s just as important as print based media these days, more so in fact - quickly adaptable, inclusive, informative, interactive and pretty cost effective - what with all the clever ‘bolt-on’ stuff available to developers.

So what’s the problem? Well the thing is, it’s like all jobs, they can suffer from poor, lazy, badly executed design - regardless of medium.

If it animates, drops down, lights up, or just reads off the paper sheet - it has to be really well thought through, clearly communicated, lovingly crafted and considered. Unfortunately too many website, like too much print, falls way short of these standards.

One site that did catch my eye for clear layout, nice little touches, good information, and strong typography (something that still falters all too often on the web - but I could write a whole post about type on the web), was the new website from Laurence King - the creative book publishers - really well put together.

Now I’m sure I may be little bias by the subject matter - I’ll always look at design books - and you may think it all looks a little plain, but there’s more to this simple site than first meets the eye.

Trying to get a grid that works well with varying information from page to page, yet retains some consistency, can be tricker that you would think. Good, simple navigation, doesn’t happen by chance. A good balance of image to copy content is no accident. These things take time and effort, and often the reason you don’t notice them is because they work so well.

So next time you think a site looks a little dull just because it has a little too much white space, and not enough bells and whistles, take a closer look, and just maybe you’ll see how much hard work and consideration has gone into the many levels of a website we don’t see.