The web is not print: helping a client in the transition

Every web designer finds himself grounded by the volumes of theory, recommendations, and standards when they first step into this industry. It can be a little more than intimidating when you imagine that my daily client designs for the web require the usage of over 4 programs and atleast 3 computer languages (and as a print designer with IT experience, I have a dock on my apple computer with 30 program shortcuts to applications I use daily)… though any technical profession has it’s stringent needs. Doctors, lawyers, office assistants, clerks, middle managers, shop keeps – all are filled with a tremendous amount of traits and skill-sets foreign to any new traveler into the field.

And like these professions, there are specialists in every spectrum, as there are in every design corner – none so commonly confused as the general difference between ‘designing for the internet’ and ‘designing for print production’. Often times I find it the hardest to teach an experienced print designer the fact that while the majority of his/her theories and talents will be extremely useful; a large, commonly used chunk is not parallel to the ideas of web design.

Why is web design so different than print design?

The user experience. The technology. Much.

A print design is a physical thing – handed to a potential client, gazed by a family of 4 in a passing sedan, sitting on your desk next to your computer. In the print design world every design controls the dimensions of the page, and creates engaging elements to grab your attention. It can be argued that much of print design is given to an unsuspecting user rather than the user seeking out the print design (when was the last time you went looking for an advertisement?)

On the ironic contrary, visitors to your website actively seek you out. But in every sense, it’s not a physical element you can hand a person (and to some, it lacks that human texture because of it). While web designers control how the elements are displayed on the screen, we cannot control the dimensions of that screen (from your Mom’s 17″ monitor, to my dual 23″ monitors, the size of that browser is a significant difference). Our job is agreeably to grab your attention, but also to help guide you to find the information you need in a manner that doesn’t break that attention. Can’t grab your attention in 7 seconds or less? Users don’t even have to waste paper by throwing out your add, they just close the window.

For the most part, some of those century old print theories run smack into a decade of web development with only varying amounts of translation.

Web design for the client, a brief primer

If you’ve never built or worked with a successful website, the web can be a cold place for business. It’s filled with a terrifying amount of dated information (6 months is old in our industry), and home grown users who teach themselves on low level applications such as Microsoft’s Frontpage, and sad to say even high level apps such as the company previously known as Macromedia’s Dreamweaver, saturate the industry with misplaced and ill-informed information from years gone by. You can hardly blame anyone, the nature of the industry is built on varying and competing formats – all aggressively marketed as the #1 end all for your needs.

Suffice it to say, there are many differences in web design that you need to consider over print design when evaluating your business, though most common I find:

  1. Content writing: Not only does your content reflect on the image of your business, but it can make or break your search engine ranking. Professional content writing is often overlooked in the print medium – but where that will simply look bad as a presentation, in the web world it will directly reflect how your clients can find your business.
  2. The layout: You can control the choice of paper size in print, but you cannot control the size of your clients monitor. Designs must be flexible, or, if fixed, to account for the possibility of varying sized screens.
  3. The technique: If a print design is laid out improperly, it’ll cost you money in production or lost time. If the code is not properly constructed in a web design, it could cost you search engine ranking, clients ability to view your website, and future expenses to update and manage the site. Websites should be built with proper, tableless, semantic code (and it should run through a validator clean); the fear is that these terms are sometimes confused and misinterpreted in the industry by designers who use them as marketing points rather than actual philosophies to design by – your designer and developer should be able to explain thoroughly the path they chose, how it will improve your business, and why.
  4. The experience: Web design, simply put, is a means of delivery information to potential clients. Much like a brochure or catalog, it packages and controls the information you choose with the end goal of creating more business – but, as I said before, people don’t physically accept your marketing material, and if the information is a failure in delivery, is easily and quickly discarded by one or a few gestures. A website is one location in a large pool; it’ll sink if your visitors can’t find the information they need quickly, or you flood them with stale commercial marketing in a medium that does not enjoy commercials.
  5. Accessibility: Professionals know that accessibility is a sincere focus in the print, as well as the design world. A poorly crafted product display can deter a potential buyer – the same can be said about an online buyer. The internet has allowed visitors to access stores and businesses that at one time may never have been possible. While this demographic may not be ‘assumed’ as your target market, you could never be sure of who your visitors are – and why would you ever want to run a business where you purposely block someone who wants to give you money? In the end, accessibility does not cost more, it simply requires doing the job right. Much less, building your sites this way means you’ve made semantic code and, thankfully, improved your search engine ranking at the same time.
  6. The Players: Professional business that dominate the brick and mortar may very well not dominate the internet (or vice versa, as is the case of Amazon.com). Many businesses research their competition whether it be in a business plan, or in your weekly marketing meetings, but now that must include or be focused on those businesses that are internet related. Learn what they’re doing right, and learn what they’re doing wrong. Their failure can be your success.
  7. The technology: Instead of debating paper types and print processes, you’ll now need a domain name, a server, and if you’re a store, a set of technologies to accept payments and prevent theft. A professional understands this concept and can lead you through the process with little to no loss of sanity. Print design rarely has to balance this level of technical requirements – at the most, their catalog must include methods for order or contacting people regarding purchases.
And still, it changes

Stack on top that the internet is in it’s infancy, and the ideas change within a few months, and you have an energetic, fast paced industry only slowed by corporations who can’t keep up. Firms that were at leaders in the 90′s may have little relevance now, and those of us in the now could be little more than a blogging memory in years to come – but what defines those of success is their ambition, and their adaptability. While your print designers can grow and change in a matter of years since the days of Rubilith to the modern desktop; a quality web designer digests daily improvements and dabbles from xhtml to PHP. Both industries impact each other, but web design moves at a speed print design will barely know.

What a professional can do for you

They ease your transition or growth into the web industry. Some companies will opt for home grown or friend/neighbor/cousin developed websites that can be had for cheap – but while they can give you a low end website with little to no cost, if the quality is not up to professional levels, the majority of these companies will be looking to redesign and redevelop within a short time.

Much of the frustration can come from the lack of regulations or guidelines in an industry that’s just setting foot into a solid future, bounced back from near death in a financial market built more on hype and less on policy; and that can be the biggest difference between an age old print industry and the web frontier. But this is changing: education and professional organization have planted the seed of structure from everything to web standardized coding methods to contractual agreements. The web is finding itself, and the benefit will be finding your niche in a limitless, expansive environment for business. Professionals list ourselves with supporting firm lists, pay membership dues and market ourselves as the industry leaders we hold ourselves too. They can increase your audience, your clientele, deliver your message, and sell your product online so long as you let them.