It works now…that means it’ll always work right?

Well actually no. Often when given a brief a designer will be expected to analyse competitor’s sites and produce something which looks and often functions in a similar way to that which already exists. This creates a definite style for a certain sector which you as a designer are expected to conform to by your clients. The question I pose is ‘Why do we have to conform to the style of the sector?’

The idea that because something works now it will always work is ignorant and lazy. We shouldn’t always settle on a design because we know the client will like it. What the client wants often isn’t necesarilly what they need and it is your duty as a designer to produce the best possible solution even if that means a bit of lively debate with said client!

Reinvent yourself…

A perfect example of this can be seen in the world of golf and in the already legendary form of Tiger Woods. Tiger had phenomenal success with his game in his early years but in spite of this chose to reinvent his swing (even when he was still winning tournaments) because he knew that fundamentally his stroke wasn’t perfect. Essentially upon realisation of the problem Tiger addressed it before it had the chance to have an adverse effect on his game. The defining issue here is that winning formulas change and we as designers just need to be aware at what point in time we should make this change.

Standing out from the crowd…

Anyway back to the meat of the matter: “How do we go about diversifying our styles in sectors with such distinctive existing styles?” Firstly by taking a different approach to the client’s competitors you are already differentiating yourself from the competition and giving yourself the opportunity to stand out from the crowd…this cannot be underestimated in a crowded market place.

“Comon sport…clients often know what they want and won’t be open to this way of thinking!”

I hear you cry. …well in answer to this I say you owe it to yourself and the client to not settle for such an easy solution…we must offer an alternative to the expected and challenge preconceptions of ‘what works’. Recently while listening to a web design podcast David Carson talked about how he briefed his designers on a new project. He did so by instructing them to design for another medium…in this instance he asked them to design for a poster. By doing this he shifted them towards a different method of thinking and thus forced his designers into coming up with some truly unique solutions which actually worked. Granted designing a poster for a website wouldn’t work without some tweaking but it is easy to refine these issues as you progress the project.

Even if you are given a tight brief working under a dictator of hitleresque proportions, give yourself the opportunity to produce a second solution; one which takes a different tangent to that which is expected. I can give a good example of this with a site recently designed here at IHM. The site was for a logistics company (http://www.4squarelogistics.co.uk/) but the clients we worked with were open minded and trusting of our skills. They wanted a brochure site which conveyed all the necessary info but in a creatively appealing way. It was a case of loosen your tie and relax a little. Although the end solution isn’t by any means groundbreaking it is certainly a major departure from the rest of the logistics marketplace.

Take a different tangent…

In conclusion I believe that there is a prevailing sense that users are more likely to be engaged by sites which offer a different approach…in fact it is almost expected of us by a world that is spending more and more time online. The bottom line is that this approach works. Here is a great example of an educational site as mentioned by Paul Boag recently which successfully takes a different path:

http://www.wccnet.edu/

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