An Event Apart co-founder Jeffrey Zeldman started of the event with Understanding Web Design.
- What do web designers need? They need empathy, the ability to feel like web users.
- Your design should seduce users, rather than repel them.
- Sit down and design/write content around how people will use your site.
- Web design is largely self-taught, an education in this area is hard to find. Teaching Excel is not the same as teaching business, teaching Photoshop/Dreamweaver is not the same as teaching web design.
- There's a lack of convention in job titles as much as there is a diverse range of educational backgrounds
- The website is often part of some other department, rather than a its own initiative.
- Web designers have little resources to really know how to get it right (design AND usability)
- Unfortunately journalism on web is mainly focused on what makes money or will be the next big thing rather than what the overwhelming majority of designers are actively doing.
- Landmark web design always fits the content of the creator.
- Good web design is about the character of the content, not the character of the designer.
Tips for designing
- Start with the user/your passion
- Know yourself (in regards to the fit of your position/project)
- Find the right clients (see above)
- Sell ideas, not pixels
- "I don't know" is okay if you are going to research and find out
- Build trust
- Bring out the big guns. Use consultants to reinforce your ideas.
- Create a paper trail
- Never underprice your work
- Say no to SPEC
- Say no to rush jobs
- End with the user/your passion
It's really interesting that despite being underwhelmed by this presentation it was spot-on as far as what this conference should start with: who we are as people responsible for web design and development and how we can improve. I'm eager to see where this leads.