The Power To Create

With the advent of HTML5 and CSS3, the Internet has truly blossomed into an environment that fosters now more than ever the ability for artistic expression, challenging all web designers alike to step up their game and become more than just a Photoshop jockey. Thanks to the hard work of many people including those at W3C, we designers now possess the tools and support we always needed to effectively make the web a beautiful place.

Busting Up Tradition

Every day, an increasing amount of websites and rich Internet applications are being released into the wild. Some of these productions are designed far outside the boundaries of what the web has traditionally been, and my prediction is that this behavior will only increase exponentially as designers explore the possibilities of current web technologies and continue to receive more support to build their own expressive works. If there is a good time to start breaking yourself of any traditional web design technique you’ve rutted into, it’s right now.

Design is the foundation of all the arts.

~Paul Rand

The man considered to be the father of modern graphics design, Paul Rand, knew that at the heart of all artwork is design. So then, what is artwork? Is it drawing? Painting? Illustration? Vector graphics? Web interfaces? 3D models? &emdash; The answer is all of the above, and more. Everything creative you ever do has a design behind it, no matter how simple or complex. With this in mind, would it not be appropriate to say that the uniqueness of your artwork operates off the principle of breaking apart traditional design and reforming it into an evolved state?

How Does It Taste?

Design is a lot like making a meal, actually. You could follow the instructions and do what others are doing to make something that tastes like the standard. Or, you can start exploring different herbs, spices and other ingredients, taste-testing it along the way so you get it perfect to your liking, thereby designing your meal to be your very own unique concoction that others will surely enjoy more than the recipe on the box!

In the same way, when you design a graphical or illustrative piece, you could look at what others have done and create designs using those same techniques to make something that is considered up to standards, or you can combine standard techniques with some sheer creative exploration, feeling things out as you go along and pushing beyond what others have done, exploring for better ways to express and interact.

Importance Of Diversity

An entire article could be written about the importance of good design, and has been on many occasions (Google found about 38.5 million results), so there is little need to defend it. However, good design diversity is something that I believe needs more attention. I can go to any one of a bundle of theme websites and get a good design, but it will just be a design that potentially many others already have in use. It doesn’t reflect my unique creativity that has been built up from my own personal experimentation and exploration. It’s not that the designers didn’t do a good job. Quite the contrary! Those designers worked hard created their designs to their own personal tastes. However, it isn’t a design with my personality. Remember, a unique design always makes more of an impression than one that’s been used on other websites. If you’d prefer a design that exhibits your own personality, let us help you out!