Third Generation Web Sites

Think back on your own experience designing a Web site. The first time around you just wanted to get something 'up there.' You slapped together some type and, if feeling ambitious, the odd graphic, hacked your way through HTML and a Web site was born. It might have been crude but at least you had a site.

Soon, other sites were springing up all over the Web. Some looked like yours, but others were that little bit better. The result, a new version of your site put together by a college graduate with experience in HTML. The content came from marketing materials with the type and graphics neat and nice. The site resembled a series of pages, it looked good.

But there is a third wave sweeping through Web design that establishes it as a unique and specialized medium. This third generation firmly places Web design in the province of graphic designers. It draws upon the skills of the profession for organizing content, structuring information, and presenting it in a striking fashion. The new Web sites have their own paradigms that fully explore the opportunities of the medium and technology. After all, how many Web sites are truly interactive?

These “Third Generation” Web sites demand creativity and thought, not fluff. Current research indicates that viewers read 25% slower on the screen than on paper and they also read 25% less. This is a medium that dictates brevity. So tell them what you are going to say, say it, and say no more.

The best of these new sites arise out of a Oscar and Felix marriage of graphic designers and programmers. These groups come from different worlds. Programmers are traditionally more linear; if something doesn't work, eliminate it. Designers are artists, fond of endless tinkering and adjustments. There is, however, a arbiter in the push and pull between these two parties, download time.

Would you design a brochure so big that it wouldn't fit in a door? Well if a page is loaded with large, multi-colored graphics you are doing so with your site. There is no patience on the Web. This is the challenge of designing a third generation site, the traditional tools of graphic design (type, color, and scale) are not readily available.

There are instead a whole new bag of tricks that the truly remarkable sites are incorporating.

  1. Resource

    As a designer hired to organize and present information in a concise, attractive way, you are one hell of a resource. An important part of being a true asset is to assist the client in thinking the site through -- from goals to metaphors. Designers are key to making a Web site work.

  2. Structure

    This is not a linear medium. The name, Web, implies an interwoven network. Done sloppily it becomes a confusing and uninviting mess. The structure needs to allow the communication lines to be quick, the viewer to know where they are and where they can get to within a site. When it comes to structure, two things are critical - site map and user interface. Think about the structure before the design. Think brevity and simplicity and spend a lot of time when creating a site map.

  3. Interactivity

    Content needs to be presented in a manner that allows viewers to be intrigued and become involved. This is no easy task and a constant challenge for designers. Interactivity is a new way of thinking and an incredible resource to clients and users. Reasearch and try software packages that take advantage of the medium.