Thursday, 05 April - 09:04 Category: Design

Picasso And The Squirrel

SYNOPSIS: Don't let you web design be influenced by anyone except your clients!

A friend of mine and I were discussing one of our designs. It happened to include an embellished fleur-de-lis and as we were reviewing the relative merits of the design she noted that she could see Dumbo the elephant in profile in one of the arms. It took me a while, but there it was, Dumbo the elephant -- damn. Now every time I look at this design idea it looks like Dumbo is making a break for it off the right-hand side of the screen.

It reminded me of a play by Don Nigro which recounts a famous moment in art history where Pablo Picasso manages to convince his Cubist friend George Braque that there is a squirrel in the bottom corner of one of his paintings. Braque becomes obsessed trying to obliterate the squirrel which Picasso keeps assuring him, after each reworking, is still there. The squirrel continues to haunt Braque to the point where he is consumed by anger and remorse. (Oddly enough, it's a comedy.)

I do have a point about web design in here somewhere, honest! The point I'm making is that whenever you receive a design make sure that nobody says anything to you about it before you've completely absorbed it. Especially if the people who are about to discuss it are the designers because whatever they say will inflect your view of the design. It's best to come to a design with a completely fresh mind and ideally without any preconceptions. You can always ask for a written explanation of the design approach after you have spent time reviewing it. So, avoid being 'accidentally programmed' by the designer's comments.

However, you may want to take this one step further. The best people to advise you on a new website design are your clients and I can almost guarantee that no initial web design by a supplier is ever put under the nose of one of their clients. Yet isn't it obvious that ultimately the design has to appeal to your customer base rather than you? I'm sure you must know two or three 'tame' and trusted clients whose advice you could seek. In fact, I bet they would be really impressed that you could seek their advice.

(Remember, you may have really expensive taste but what you sell may be inexpensive. If the design reflected your expensive tastes there is no doubt it would put off your prospective customers.)

Web design is based on artistic values with a purpose superimposed. However, as with all things visual it is subjective and subject to our values, prejudices and preconceptions. So be fair to the design and hand it around the people who really matter, the clients, and get their feedback first.

By the way, it was Matt's design we were commenting on but in light of Braque do you think I should I tell him about the elephant in his design?

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Posted By:Jed Wylie on Sat, Apr 5th 2008, 09:04