A Collection of Details

Everyone knows the expression, "God is in the details." The idea, as heretical as it may be to make this topical jump, applies just as well to advertising and, especially, to website design.

It's amazing how often I've gone to websites and been thwarted by some aspect of the design, actually hindered from doing what I need to do on the site. In most cases, this clumsiness of design directly results in an inability to, say, make a purchase or find a product or store. Don't people realize this? If I go to a website and can't find out how to telephone the company, or if a page takes 5 minutes to load, then the bottom line is that I will probably leave the website (and the product) and never look back.

Usability carries over into things like aesthetics and good writing too. A website that looks thrown together, text overrun with bad grammar and spelling mistakes, broken links and outdated information -- these things show that you don't actually care about your customers' experience. Or worse, that you think that they won't notice when you cut corners. We've said it before, but things like careless writing simply scream "unreliable" and "shoddy." Do you think people won't notice? Think again.

This isn't just useless griping. When my experience on a website is pleasant and smooth, I might not consciously think, "Wow, everything here is spelled correctly" or,"The pages sure load quickly!" On the other hand, I'll be left with an overall satisfaction with my experience, and I'll associate that satisfaction with the website and, by extension, with the company itself. Good craftsmanship (be it in design, programming, writing, or anything else) doesn't draw attention to itself, and therein lies its success. Rather than fume over the fact that I'm sitting in front of a screen waiting for a page to load, or stumbling over misplaced commas, I'm able to fully immerse myself in the actual content of the site, open and receptive to what it has to say.

A Method to Your Madness

There's a key ingredient to every top-notch advertising agency: it's all about process. As boring as it sounds, it's not enough to just be talented and creative; you've got to have a method to your madness.

Sure, creativity is key, and no one's going to be interested in an agency with a meticulous work-flow but uninspired ideas. But consistency is very important if you want satisfied clients and, especially, repeat clients.

When you meet with people for the first time and set out to discuss their needs, you have to give them a solid idea of just how it is you'll go about meeting those needs. Well, you don't just have to give them an idea; you have to be able to carry it out. Then client wants to know that you're not just going to sit around at your desk until a idea occurs to you. They want to see that you have a process, a system by which you can guarantee consistent, first-class results.

It's like in science class, when you learned about the "scientific method" and how to keep track of all the steps in a given experiment. It's crucial to have a clear, repeatable technique that you know will lead you to the same results each time. In this case: successful advertising.

Of course it's a lot trickier to come up with a consistent method for great advertising than it is to remember how to mix chemicals in a certain order or use a bunsen burner. But that's what makes one agency better than the next: the experience and honed skills to know what works for their clients.

Form for the Sake of Function

Like many of my colleagues in graphic design, I spent a number of my formative years studying art at various educational institutions. For those of you who’ve never had the pleasure of studying art in school (at a “higher level,” in particular), I can tell you that a lot of time is spent immersed in critiques.

In an art critique, the artist is extensively questioned by his or her peers, professors, visiting artists, and so on. A great deal of time is spent examining the work at hand, discussing its details, and arguing over whether or not it “works.” Which is a difficult thing to quantify, incredibly subjective as it is. I suppose that there may be certain rules when it comes to art, but one of them is that all rules are meant to be broken, leaving us without much of a concrete framework to fall back on when discussing art and its effectiveness. Ultimately what it often comes down to is how well an artist can defend his or her methods and rationale, and how well he or she can convince other people that the art is doing what it’s supposed to do.

Which is all simply to say that art is a messy, complicated, subjective thing, and it’s very hard to determine its success except on a personal, individual basis. This may be why it can be a relief to work in graphic design and advertising.

Design is still a fluid, subjective field, and that same rule (that most rules are meant to be broken) often still holds true. But on the other hand, design and advertising are a little more clear-cut than your average painting or avant-garde video installation. Design can be challenging, sure it can, and of course it can be beautiful and provocative and thoughtful (in fact, these are definite plusses). But in the end, its ultimate goal is to say something, to effectively communicate information.

This is a good thing to keep in mind when designing, or working with designers on a project. We all have our preferences and our tastes, but the most important thing to remember is that the design of a website, ad, logo, newsletter, or really anything, is only useful if people respond to it, if it grabs them and says exactly what you want it to say, points their attention where you want it. Unlike art as such, design (in general) doesn’t exist for its own sake; it exists to attract, communicate, and convince. Which is also why design can be “good” even if it isn’t to your exact taste, and why it’s important to remember to strike a balance between what you respond to personally, and what will most effectively convey your message to a receptive audience. Artists can spend hours explaining their work, but your design has to say everything it needs to right up front, without the trouble of a lengthy critique.