[thelist] Are Web designers a dying breed?

McCreath_David McCreath_David at xmail.asd.k12.ak.us
Wed Jul 19 18:29:49 CDT 2000


> My take is: DESIGN IS DEAD!

(Innocently swimming around and taking the bait...)

BAH!

"Web" designers are no more a dying breed than "print" designers. Just
because somebody is offering semi-attractive and reasonably-priced templates
for web sites, the need for truly talented visual people who understand the
medium will never go away. You can buy templates for print newsletters, too,
but that don't make 'em as nice as a custom job. I still have friends who do
nothing but print design and pros like that take into consideration things
that Joe Blow with a $99 scanner and Microsoft Publisher wouldn't even think
of.

I just had another conversation with someone yesterday who has a friend
whose a programmer in "real" life and has a freelance biz building web
pages. "It's so easy, anyone can do it!" As we all know, that is just so
much bullshit.

The "hassle and expense of dealing with a de$signer"? The whole point of
hiring a designer is that they do it for a living and bring years of
training and/or experience to the process. They automatically do things a
non-professional would never think to do, and in less time, too. I can
replace the faucet in my kitchen when an enthusiatic friend rips the handle
off, but when it's time to replace the iron pipes with copper, you're damn
right I'm gonna hire a plumber at $75 to $150 an hour. :)

I'm interested that you equate "content" with "development". I just finished
talking the District into hiring a content manager for our site so that I
can concentrate on the design and the code. To me, "development" is
EVERYTHING involved in creating web sites.

------------------------------------------
David McCreath   Web Development
(907) 742-4647   Anchorage School District
                 http://www.asd.k12.ak.us/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: thelist-admin at lists.evolt.org
> [mailto:thelist-admin at lists.evolt.org]On Behalf Of elkay
> Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 3:25 PM
> To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
> Subject: [thelist] Are Web designers a dying breed?
> 
> 
> Recently, I received a snail-mail ad package from NSI touting their
> ImageCafe.com
> 
> I reviewed the site and the 50+ template designs they offer 
> (which can be
> exponentially expanded by color selection). I felt the 
> designs were visually
> very attractive.
> 
> The pitch is: Select, customize and fill in the blanks for 
> your content and
> get it all for $9.95/month (including hosting)! Its all done
> programmatically, don't ya know.
> 
> More research exposed godaddy.com (of Parson fame), offering a similar
> resolve. I found several more sites with the same type of offer.
> 
> Sure, the possibility of having a 'similar' design to another 
> site may be at
> issue, but how can a beginning business substantiate paying 
> 'big' bucks for
> a custom design that may cost them several thousand dollars 
> at a point where
> they are just 'testing the waters'? If they've done their homework and
> prepared the materials that most designers will ask for 
> anyway, why bear the
> added expense and hassle of dealing with a 'de$igner'?
> 
> My take is: DESIGN IS DEAD!
> 
> Development is the ticket! Content rules!
> 
> Comments?
> 
> ------------------------
> LKraemer
> ASP Application Development
> --------------------------------------------
> - t r a n s m i s s i o n   c o m p l e t e -
> 
> 
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