Learn the Craft of Web Site Design

When I was in college working on my design degree, I was required to take classes in drawing, 2-D design, painting, ceramics, photography, metals and sculpture. The focus of these classes was to introduce me to the craft of each discipline. In photography class, I learned the basic workings of the camera, photographic processes, chemicals, reactions, and techniques for developing a quality image. I spent countless nights in ceramics class trying to master the 8” cylinder on the pottery wheel. In all these classes we also spent time on composition, subject matter, and artistic concept, but learning the craft was an essential part of my early education.

Learning the craft was the primary focus of all my design classes. They taught us how to use software, how the printing process works, how to choose ink and paper, and even how to cut ruby-lith in order to create printing plates for the pre-digital print process. Concept was very important, but executing the craft was equally important. The school didn’t provide a staff that new the software and would execute our ideas to perfection. They didn’t accept a facsimile of a design or product, we had to produce the real thing, and we had to do it ourselves.

Somewhere along the way, it seems that we’ve gotten away from fundamental importance of the craft to the designer, especially in web site design. It is not enough to “understand fundamental design principles” to do web site design, you must also understand the craft of web site design. Can you imagine hiring an architect to design your house knowing fully that they do not understand how to build a house? What if they did not understand the materials? What if they didn’t understand principles of geology, structural dynamics, etc? Would they design they give you be build-able? How will the construction crew respond to the design? Will the design support the loads it needs to? Will it be up to code?

Sure, it is always possible to hire additional help, or rely on those who do know the craft to help you through it, but that means it takes at least two people to get done what it could take one person. Sure, the typical response is that a designer can spend more time on the “important” aspects of design, such as concept, but really, what could be more important than actually being able to build your design?

I think that much of the problem has surfaced because of the new-ness of the industry. Most of us haven’t learned web site design in a school, and if we have, it probably wasn’t taught in the right way (yes I am talking about your Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash classes).

It is also very difficult to keep up with the craft. Seriously, how would you handle learning photography if the photographic development process changed and you needed new equipment every 3 years? How would you learn the craft of wood working if the way you cut wood changed, or if the technology of saws and power tools changed every couple months? What if the properties of the wood itself changed?

I’m not saying it is an easy thing to do, but if you have any desire to really understand web site design, you’ve got to understand and be able to execute the craft with a fair amount of proficiency. You can’t go to far, but we’ve got to face it, there is a craft to web site design, and we will only be better designers if we understand that craft. We need to learn how to manipulate it in artistic ways that connect with our audiences. Some of today’s best web designers didn’t get their education in graphic design–-they learned the craft, applied their knowledge, and picked up the knowledge and skill for design along the way. They have always been a step ahead, because they learned the craft first.

So, If you are a designer who is interested in web site design, or if you do web site design, but are not comfortable with the craft of building web sites you need to learn the craft. If you know the craft, you need to make sure that you keep up with it.

Here’s some things that you’ll need to know how to do:

1. Hand-Code the structure of a web page—and do it right. I’m talking about valid WC3 compliant HTML or XHTML
2. Style that hand coded page with CSS—and do it right. Validated again, and working flawlessly in all modern browsers (that does NOT include Netscape 4.0). You’ll need to know how all that design knowledge you learned in your typography class translates to the web (leading == line-height)
3. Add JavaScript functions and interactivity by hand.
4. Understand how a web server works.
5. Understand server-side scripting and database connectivity—understanding isn’t enough, you should be able to build a web database, and connect a web page to it.

There is much, much, much more to the craft of web site design, but if you don’t understand these basics elements, how can you expect to understand and deal with the more complex issues of design? The craft is the core. Your autonomy as a designer depends on it. Do you really want to have to rely on someone else for the rest of your career to help you with your job?

Remember, what good is furniture designer who can’t build the chair he designs? What good is the painter who can’t execute his compositions?

If you don’t have the core, you’ve got to learn it. You can’t afford not to.