“I am a words person, that is why typography is the obvious extension, it just makes my words visible.” Erik Spiekermann

As a designer, I have a special place tucked away in my heart for fonts. However, I find working with system fonts tragically disappointing. I am faced with this disappointment every day when creating accessible interactive spaces. Spaces that need to be compatible with every operating system and web browser. This is the dilemma, how do you create engaging spaces that are accessible to everyone when there are so many limitations?

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With some friends of mine recently returning from Vegas, it got me thinking of bright, eye-catching, cool, elaborate and over-the-top means to get a message across.

In the world of interactive, sometimes the use of widgets, Flash, or other “bright, flashing things” can interfere with the more important messages or tactics that a site is attempting to execute on. It reminds me of the traditional marketing/advertising star burst. In that case, what was (or god help us still currently is) intended or used as support or enhancement to the message simply became a distraction. That same sort of issue is now translating itself to the interactive space.

To be clear, Flash, widgets and the like aren’t necessarily a bad thing (unlike their traditional counterpart, star bursts). In fact, a majority of the time they can be a very well-used and effective tool. However, as more people and companies learn the ropes of the interactive space I just hope that we’ll avoid the use of Flash, for the sake of using Flash, but rather use it in a useful and supporting manner to progress the larger objectives and goals of the brand or company.

The problem is, too much Flash may help a site look cool and be eye-catching, but when it comes time to actually USE the site or get information what is that technology platform doing to the user’s interaction? How is the Flash interrupting a smart, clean and strategic navigation structure or information architecture? How is too much Flash causing longer load times and a slower site? How is a site made of entirely Flash hurting our online visibility in search engines? How are you hurting yourself with a primarily Flash site, when a part of your audience doesn’t have the latest versions of Flash or even have it all?

Without the intent of bashing anyone or any particular site, I’ve included some examples where they might consider those types of questions to provide a more usable product for their customers:

-www.rmgconnect.com
-www.innerstrengthstudio.com
-www.tampax.com (this isn’t flash, but I just can’t believe they have sideways navigation…did I miss something?)
-Just about any car company website

In a meeting this morning, someone shared a phrase his father used to tell him: “Give a lazy person a hard job and they will figure out an easy way to get it done. “It’s a great, and incredibly true, statement. We have to admit we’re all a bit lazy - or impatient or demanding or whatever term you prefer. However, our “laziness” has allowed for great leaps and bounds in new innovations and processes that enhance efficiency and productivity, making our lives easier - which is what we all really want. I know “lazy” may have its negative connotations, but in the web environment it is usually the smart way to go. Feeding into this “laziness” is part of a good web strategy - organizing website content so that users can get the information they need without having to think and businesses are able to run at maximum efficiency. Simple is good. Often hard to achieve, but good nonetheless. As a web strategist, I for one, have found a career amidst this “laziness” - finding ways to make lives and job easier. I love finding resources (online and off) that make my life more efficient. So, below are a few efficiencies that have allowed me to embrace my laziness, and I would love to hear about the tools you use as well. E-newsletters and RSS Feeds - A great way to get automatic reminders of bills, low bank statements, coupons, sales, concerts, breaking news, the stock market or anything else you may want to be reminded that you care about. Metro Transit GoTo Card - No more scrambling to find exact change for the bus or waiting in line for a ticket while watching the train go by. Just swipe and go with the prepaid card. Meebo.com - Consolidates all your instant messaging accounts in one place. Kayak.com - Gathers flight information from all the major carriers and travel search engines. It also provides trends in flight costs and other great tools. Web Bookmarks - In one click of a button I have access to all the website I visit on a regular basis. No need to type in the URL every time. Auto-bill pay and online banking - I haven’t had one late payment and receive my statement notices online, reducing the amount mail to sift through and overall paper waste.

The twentieth-century saw a great shift in the style and purpose of art and design.

The Art Nouveau movement at the turn of the century had elaborate, lush, organic ornamentation that provided a decorative visual language with an emotional quality. Art Nouveau laid the groundwork for abstraction by breaking organic forms down to basic shapes rather than creating realistic representations.

In A History of Graphic Design Philip Meggs states, “Art Nouveau became the initial phase of the modern movement, preparing the way for the twentieth century by sweeping this backward looking spirit from design.”

The sparse geometric style of the modern movement was a stark contrast to Art Nouveau, and modern design went beyond mere decorative element; it served a purpose.

In A History of Graphic Design, Meggs discusses Walter Gropius’ beliefs on purposeful design. Gropius was one of the founders of the Bauhaus, one of the primary influences on modern architecture and design.

“Recognizing the common roots of both fine and applied visual arts, Gropius sought a new unity of art and technology as he enlisted a generation of artists in a struggle to solve problems of visual design created by industrialism. It was hoped that artistically trained designers could ‘breathe a soul into the dead product of the machine’ for Gropius believed that only the most brilliant ideas were good enough to justify multiplication by industry.”

Now at the turn of the twenty first century, we asked ourselves, what is the designer’s role in the age of mass production? We create so much, and the work that we create needs to have a purpose. We aim to unite art and technology by creating interactive spaces that are both functional and memorable. Creating rooms with walls that talk. Exploiting technology to create structures that the visitor can engage with. Spaces where the creative is fully integrated into the structural planning, not just a facade.

As I stopped to get my morning coffee, the woman behind the counter was going on about this newsletter she receives about her daughter’s preschool and how hard it was to decipher. She still wasn’t sure if her daughter actually had preschool that day or not. Her frustration was obvious, and reminded me of the ever-present challenge of usability in our lives. Nobody likes having a toaster you can’t figure out, roadsigns that are hard to understand or websites that are impossible to navigate. Product developers have an important task on their hands: to ensure consumers find the product useful. We consider ourselves product developers as well because websites can be more than brochure-ware; they are e-commerce engines, communications tools, educational resources and more. On the web, usability is a make or break element. If users can’t understand how to use a website or can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll be gone - probably forever. It is an avoidable obstacle, however, if given some thoughtful planning and consideration. There are numerous schools of thought out there on usability best practices, but a good place to start is to evaluate the current state of your site from a general usability perspective. Conducting a quick heuristics evaluation can shed a lot of light on glaring problems and obstacles. Below are seven questions to ask about your website in the context of your market, goals and target audience, based on heuristics standards set by Jakob Nielsen, 1. Does the website inform users about what’s going on during their engagement and give feedback in a timely and appropriate manner?, 2. Does the website use language and terminology that the user is familiar with and follow real-world logic and convention?, 3. Does the website provide adequate exit options, allowing users to correct mistakes and providing clear error messages?, 4. Does the website use consistent language, navigation and action standards across the entire site?, 5. Is the website structured to prevent or check for user error with tools like confirmation steps, etc?, 6. Does the website provide clear direction about where the user is in a process or in the site, eliminating the need for the user to have to remember where they came from or how they got there?, 7. Is the website content relevant to the section and the audience?

The marketplace is swarming with new technologies and products that promise to make our frantic lives easier and more efficient so we can get more done in less time with less effort. Work less and get more. Talk less and say more. You get the picture. We’ve always got too much to do and too little time. So it’s only natural that we’re drawn to technology that makes our to-do list a little less daunting and life a bit more enjoyable.

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