Web designers are architects
What is a web designer? That’s a question that has been intensely debated over the years, but no-one has really agreed on a definitive answer. I’d like to add my thoughts.
First of all it’s important to nail down what web sites are primarily made of:
- Text
- Media (images, video, audio, and external documents such as PDF’s, .zip archives)
Background – the early days of web design
In the early days of the internet all web pages were text only, but as browser technology advanced it became possible to insert images, audio clips, and for the adventurous, miniscule video clips into a web page. Mind you, back in the days of dialup connections downloading anything other than text only pages required a lot of patience!
As the years progressed browsers improved and connection speeds got better, people who made web sites started to decorate pages with glossy imagery and background graphics in an attempt to make them more “appealing” or to add “essential” corporate branding. “Web design” became a bit of an art form requiring a knowledge of both HTML and manipulating images to create something that was supposedly appealing.
People from all sorts of backgrounds were building web sites, graphic designers, programmers, print designers, as well as “have a go” amateurs - many of whom became today’s influential web people.
Then the web grew up.
A new role for a new era
Web designers come from many different backgrounds, but for this article I’m going to simplify things and suggest people enter via three main routes:
- From being a graphic/print designer
- From a marketing/copywriting background
- Via programming languages (php/asp/databases etc)
They all design stuff for the web, but no one discipline does a web designer make…
To define what a “web designer” is we need to take a fresh look. At this point remember what the web is made of - text and media!
Defining the role of a web designer
What are the three most important things in a web site design (in no particular order)?
- The content - text and media
- Accessibility - making text and media available to all
- Usability – making the site easy to use and idiot proof as far as possible!
These three items are what real people care about. If you disagree then have a good think about what you really care about when visiting a site.
Now, given those items, what is the primary role of a web designer?
- Present content in an easy to follow and understand format
- Making content accessible to everyone
- Making sites easy to use, navigation, legibility (typography?) etc
So, if you follow hard logic, it stands to reason that, in order to accomplish these things, a web designer should be the person who creates wireframes to optimally position key page elements such as navigation, content areas, search forms and so on. By doing this he/she then has the power to decide things like how the core HTML is marked up (accessibility), where key page elements appear (usability), and space for content including legibility and typography (accessibility and usability).
In short, that is the main role for a web designer.
(Note, at this point I haven’t involved a graphic designer or programmer, though we should assume that the designer has an idea of what types of content is being worked with.)
The bigger picture
In the real world the visual appearance of a web site does matter, sometimes at least, having some programming (eg PHP/ASP/databases etc) is almost a certainty, and good relevant content is a must, but how does our web designer deal with these things?
Now, remembering that our web designer is the person that’s created the wireframes for the site we can now bring in other disciplines.
The role of the marketing department (if you have one)
Branding and identity is important in some organisations, whether that’s a logo, or corporate branding colours, the web designer will need to know so he/she can account for them in the wireframes.
The role of the copywriter
Someone has to write all that compelling content, draft error/system text, create search engine friendly page titles and the rest of it. Of course without the text copy, or at least an idea of its quantity or types, the designer can’t effectively start work.
The role of the graphic designer
The wireframes will dictate all the dimensions on the pages. For example, a navigation bar might have been specified at 40 pixels tall to accommodate various font sizes (remembering accessibility here!), so if the nav bar requires some graphical elements it’s passed to the graphic designer to design something to fit what the web designer has specified in the wireframe.
The role of the programmer
For the most part the programmer has little to do with the front end, except delivering dynamic content. As an example let’s say the designer has specified that a database of addresses is required. A search box is needed and the data output to a HTML table. The programmers role is to write the back end code that outputs raw HTML in a manner that can be incorporated into the wireframe that displays address data.
The role of the coder
The HTML/CSS/Javascript guy has to appear somewhere! It’s simple really, the designer hands over the wireframes and the coder marks everything up according to spec, semantic HTML and gracefully degrading javascript of course!
Putting together a new definition
Think about how an architect works. He/she will create plans for a building incorporating key elements like doors, roof, walls, windows, all drawn to scale. An important point here is that a successful architect will be familiar with all the materials used in a building, their restrictions, and suitability for the type of building.
It’s the architect that specifies where the front door goes, how tall/wide it is, and often what material it’s made of. It’s not the architect’s role to make the door, or fit it.
The point is that an architect knows the requirements for the door, and chooses a door with the most suitable characteristics using their knowledge and experience of incorporating doors into buildings.
Now bring in the idea of designing a web site as an architect.
A web designer will create the plans for the site, skilfully incorporating branding, navigation, content areas, accessibility, usability and so on, but on the web the architects design/plans are the web designers wireframe. The web designer will also choose the most suitable types of materials for the site, eg advising on choosing font colours for the best accessibility.
Once the web designer has complete the “plans” he/she then passes various tasks to other specialists to actually build the real thing. For instance, building walls and the roof might go to the HTML/CSS coder, the interior decor to the graphic designer, the plumbing and electrics to the programmer – each of these specialists would of course be following the design (plans) as specified.
Some web designers wear two hats
Of course it’s normal to find web designers that have skills in more than one area. One person might excel at graphic design and copywriting but may suck at usability, another might be a coding/programming god but have no clue about graphics.
Which one would make the better web designer? The answer is none of them.
A web designer doesn’t necessarily need to be a graphic designer, copywriter, programmer or coder but their key role is to plan for the sites visitors (content, accessibility, usability – remember those?), just as the architect designs a building for the people that live or work there.
Just like an architect, a web designers role involves liaising with other specialists who are working on the project, acting as a supervisor, and overseeing the build, ensuring everything is being done to specification. He or she may also be involved in the build process such as creating graphics, writing text copy, or bashing out some CSS, but not always.
Summing up
It’s my conclusion that the term “web designer” is far too general nowadays because a typical web site often involves far too much specialist work for one person alone.
The term “web architect” is far better suited for the needs of many modern web sites. Web design is not solely the job of a graphic designer, programmer or copywriter, and the design (planning) of a web site has become a speciality in it’s own right.
It’s time to change what we call ourselves!
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