So What Is Web Design?

sde · 06-13-2003, 07:44 PM

Lets say there are 2 people developing a web site.

1 is a graphic designer
1 is a web developer

so this graphic designer comes up with a look of the site.

the graphic designer communicates and shows pictures to the web developer how the site should look.

the web developer tells the graphic designer how the graphics must be designed for the web.

the web developer then edits all the graphics so it fits nicely in the site.

the process goes back and forth till the site is complete.

.................................................. .................................
now these 2 developers decide to put a site credit on the bottom of the site.

the credit reads:
graphic/web design by (graphic designers name here) | programming by (web developers name here)
************************************************

is that right? lets say that the "programming credit" wasn't there .. does the wev developer's job fall under "web design" ?

or

is the person who designs the looks given the credit for the design of the website design ?

i recently bumped heads with someone about this and am wondering what others think.

personally i prefer no site credit, .. but if there was one .. what should it read?

bdl · 06-13-2003, 09:28 PM

IMHO, although I am by no means a professional developer, I think the way you've described it would probably call for something like this:

Site Design: Joe Artist
Web Development: Joe Coder

Unless of course you just use something like:

Developed by: Joe Artist, Joe Coder

Ilya020 · 06-14-2003, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bdl
IMHO, although I am by no means a professional developer, I think the way you've described it would probably call for something like this:

Site Design: Joe Artist
Web Development: Joe Coder

Unless of course you just use something like:

Developed by: Joe Artist, Joe Coder

I agree with bdl about having two line but I would like to state that sometimes the coder and the graphics guy are the same.

Ilya.

sde · 06-14-2003, 09:08 AM

"web design" is the term i'm specifically questioning here. i think both jobs fall under the term 'web design' .. at least according to berkley and a few other sites.

http://www.berkeley.edu/standards/planning.html
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/webpublishing/index.htm
http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/web_design/

what prompted this was me being written an 8 page letter from a graphic designer who wished to not do business with me anymore because i suggested that what i do is part of the 'web design'. she doesn't understand that the graphic design for the website isn't 'web design' in its entirety.

personally i think site credits on client's sites are tacky .. but she insisted on them anyway.

oh well .. can't please everyone.

bdl · 06-14-2003, 09:55 AM

I would say that the designer you were working with doesn't fully understand what 'web design' is, that's not your problem though, it's hers. Traditionally I would say that 'web design' is nothing more than the actual formatting of the html and the backend that runs the site. Since computers and browsers have both become much more powerful in the last few years since the initial development of the 'web', it's now more commonplace to expect a site to be more graphics / animation intensive, but thats not what makes the site work.

Ask the graphics designer to create a site all by herself, the scripts, the HTML / XML, the CSS, everything. Until she can do that, she's not truly resposible for the design.

As to the credits, I sort of like a simple understated credit at the bottom of the site, basically for the purpose of allowing potential clients to link over to what other work that developer has done. A simple small graphic that links to the developers site is tasteful enough.

Admin · 06-16-2003, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sde
"web design" is the term i'm specifically questioning here. i think both jobs fall under the term 'web design' .. at least according to berkley and a few other sites.

http://www.berkeley.edu/standards/planning.html
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/webpublishing/index.htm
http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/web_design/

what prompted this was me being written an 8 page letter from a graphic designer who wished to not do business with me anymore because i suggested that what i do is part of the 'web design'. she doesn't understand that the graphic design for the website isn't 'web design' in its entirety.

personally i think site credits on client's sites are tacky .. but she insisted on them anyway.

oh well .. can't please everyone.

mike, designers are easy enough to find.

you still have rich's email? no site credit required by him...

sde · 06-16-2003, 12:14 PM

i have his aim handle .. i'll be using him for my next project. after the re-design on my site is finished, i'll be advertising.

Eyelfixit · 07-06-2003, 01:39 AM

Web site design is not only looks. It's far more than that.

Planning
Looks
level dev.
Meta tagging
Submittion
Marketing
Cross linking

\There's alot of stuff to do to build a succesfull site. not just making graphics.

redhead · 07-06-2003, 02:08 AM

Hmm.. in a situation like this I would say, remember to get your name first.. Most likely people will remember things by the first person mentioned, and over time forget the second name.

Eyelfixit · 07-06-2003, 02:32 AM

I agree with redhead