The web has been and will continue to be a very different beast than traditional print. In my experience, even just 5 years ago a large number of designers despised the idea of going into web design—unfortunately. More than a handful saw it to be a lower form of design. Pitiful font support. Numerous layout limitations. Flash filled some holes but was mostly used for ‘fireworks’ rather than refined design. The web required an understanding of arcane languages meant for machines rather than humans. And worst of all, rather than enjoying the feel subtle textures of paper and the sweet smell of fresh ink, websites could only be viewed behind the cold glare of a monitor. Thumbing through pages in the park didn’t exist in this new digital world. No, web surfers had to push a puck around on a table and tap out directions with clunky keyboard.
But one factor above all others has always left a mark on web design. The web began and continues to be a tool for quickly dispersing information. Though unlike older mediums, it is also a two way conversation. It has turned everyone with a computer into a content creator—and this is a beautiful thing. But this also means web designers focus on designing the template for information, and all too often pay too little attention to the content itself.
This is also happens to be one of the more fascinating features of digital design. We need to digest so many more components than layout, typography, and aesthetics and brand. We think through full systems that have intelligence, flexibility, while guiding the user to content that we don’t know the specifics of until our job is done. To make matters more daunting, people consume our digital content in a variety of interactive manners across an ever increasing number of devices. I’ve often thought a digital designer is not that unlike an architect who designs a building, but realizes he or she cannot know exactly how people will use the space. We can only make well informed predictions.
All that being said, our industry is changing quickly. And it I believe it’s time for more designers to push their digital creations to next level. Specifically, it is time that more of us create organic templates, with room for unique art direction that lives within rules of the original template. Designers and content creators love print because it provides a canvas to add an extra level of editorial touch that digital has rarely achieved. With print, love and care can be applied to every detail.
Taking a queue from ‘old’ media
Every single issue of Wired Magazine has attention paid to the details. Each article has a specific story to tell, with art direction to match. This extra level of detail paid to the design of words on a page has real value and gets overlooked most of the time on the web. The layout, design, and illustration not only help tell a story, but come along with an implied sense of relevance. When someone takes the time to design the article, one will easily assume that it somehow matters more than some text thrown on a white sheet of paper.
This is missing from almost all content driven websites today. There are rarely if ever, any ways to add any specific art direction to content. All content gets funneled into the same template regardless of the story being told. There are a variety of reasons for this. Not least of which, achieving this effect is sometimes a larger technology hurtle. And until recently, content publishers have been unsure how much time and effort to invest in digital mediums. Most sites are also designed for short attention spans, more about consuming content quickly than enjoying it with any leisure. As luck would have it, we are now being encroached upon by a new class of device: the tablet. The iPad is now leading the charge for a new kind of digital delivery medium, that encourages users to slow down and digest content at a sustainable pace. Publishers now realize that digital is only threatening to overshadow print, and it is ever more important to take a second look at how content is presented digitally. We are also entering an exciting time of font support development on the web. Soon, high end typography finally be a full reality on the web, without specialty plugins or image replacements.
There are but a handful of real world examples of designers and content creators taking advantage of editorial style design aesthetic on a digital canvas. The current examples fall into two camps: blogs and magazines. A few blogs have undertaken the challenge of longer form articles, where each article gets custom art direction.
Look for a future Not For Paper, which these philosophies in mind.
Jason Santa Maria
jasonsantamaria.com
This fellow from Brooklyn, NY was one of pioneers of the fledging ‘blogazine’ category. Posts are infrequent. But this blog is still one the best out there. Each tells a visual story of its own. And yet each is also unmistakably from Jason Santa Maria.
The Bold Italic
thebolditalic.com
A local blog written by and for San Franciscans, The Bold Italic is now part of my regular reading routine. Originally designed by the folks over at IDEO, these articles are a joy to read and re-read, thanks to the gorgeous photos and illustrations, well written pieces, and tools for exploring the city on your own. This one even gets a new post every day or two, thanks what has clearly turned into a decent group of writers and staff.
TIME Magazine
iPad Application
One of the first out the gate, TIME is testing the waters of digital magazines on tablets. Basically a reinterpretation of the magazine for the tablet, each month’s content is represented accurately from the print version but with edits to the layout to work for the smaller touch screen. I am not sure that publishers should try to replicate the print model on the tablet with fixed price monthly issues. But this is a great example of how magazine content might be adapted for the tablet, if imperfect and currently lacking in features.
While you’re at it, check these as well….
http://gregorywood.co.uk/
http://dustincurtis.com/
http://jackcheng.com/
NotForPaper is devoted to seeking out and respecting the best in digital design, while also creating an open forum for discussing trends and topics moving a very exciting design specialty into the future. Read More
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Interaction Designer at Odopod.
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