I have recently noticed a new breed of web design books that focus on strategy and users rather than specific programming languages or applications.
Designing The Moment is subtitled Web Interface Design Concepts in Action, and offers “over 30 stories that illustrate how to put good design principles to work on real-world web application interfaces”, with the intention of focusing on user experiences.
Designing For The Social Web looks at designing sites to encourage user participation, along with user behaviours surrounding their psychology, such as sign-up and the usage cycle.
Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide is targeted towards execs and entrepreneurs concerned with the profitability of designing for user participation.
I’m currently reading Web Design For ROI online, and it discusses “Turning Browsers into Buyers & Prospects into Leads”. Design guidelines are offered along with tips to “increase web sales/leads by 10%-50% or more”.
When I first began designing websites about a decade ago, the roles were simple – developers coded applications, and designers made nice graphics than put them together using a WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver. When I worked with a designer, they did the layout in their graphics software, then exported it to an editor wherein I cleaned up the code and added server-side programming or simply JavaScript to create the functionality of the site.
I find it fascinating to continue watching web roles change – now not only is design and development considered, but even business strategy, along with usability, human-computer interaction, and information architecture. We have evolved past the “should we pay someone to do a website” and even past “let’s just throw a contact page online” to in-depth discussions of how websites can be used to maximize profitability and engage customers in an ongoing relationship. Niche positions that span from writing content through to writing code along with illustrating and graphics design open up as businesses realize the power of the web.
I like to believe that we have moved past the boom and bust and are now striving to a more mature, valuable internet.
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