I was speaking with my boss yesterday about a redesign we’re planning. I was pointing out the need to survey our key users, so that we could set and validate our design goals. “Art is very subjective,” sez I. “Some people like one thing, others like another. With this redesign, I need to be able to say, ‘Here’s why we did what we did.'”
That’s the difference between art and design. Art is my personal vision, and I hope you like it — but if you don’t, too bad. Design, on the other hand, should be focused on a goal — usually a business goal. Because of that, it is almost always less important than the content or function that it supports.
I look at a lot of Web sites and see artwork (not necessarily good artwork, either), but not design. Ask someone about the design of their Web site, and you’ll get answers like, “that’s what the designer came up with” or “it looked cool.”
Let’s do some research first and define a goal or two. Then the design can follow, and you’ll be able to quantify if, and why, it’s working.
