This blog might not look like much but it’s the height of my web design philosophy.
The Scriptiest Philosophy is three fold:
- Clarity Through Simplification
- Time Is Money
- Agile Construction
Clarity Through Simplification is basically a design concept. A good website will be simple. Easy to navigate and easy to understand. It will be appealing while not overwhelming. This is not Abstract art, it’s Communication Art. People should not have to guess what they’re looking.
Images are nice but rely more on text than on images to send your message. A quick glance at page one should tell a visitor everything they need to know about what the site is and why they’ve come. If you have to use a cool header image, fine but don’t forget to spell things out a bit with some text.
Be clear, concise, do more with less, be efficient and constantly trim the fat.
Time Is Money has to do with how long it takes you to do build. Again be efficient; its not just about money. If it takes to long to build a site then maybe you need to re-think your design. Don’t get so hung up on a beautiful idea that you can’t adapt to a changing situation or new information.
When you’re working for yourself especially, no one will get upset if you take three hours to do something. But remember that for every hour you work the less money you make. As you gain experience you’ll learn efficient techniques and that will mean you will make more money. Don’t under value your time.
Like pebbles on a mountain it all adds up.
Agile Construction is all about building with future growth in mind. All things start small. Even if it’s a simple one page brochure type website, take some time to anticipate how a web page will react to changing conditions. If a client decides to use a wider image how will this affect the page. Will you need to make a minor tweek or will you have to re-tool.
What if there sales jump through the roof and they suddenly want more pages. It does happen, and guess who’s got to do the work. It’s not being lazy it’s working smarter. A good website will be forward compatible.
Things change; be ready for it.
And that’s the Scriptiest Philosophy