08 Oct We are all alike
It’s funny how much we naturally want to assimilate. Blame your subconscious if you want, but deep down in the back of your mind you want to be just like everybody else. Designers are supposed to innovate and come up with creative solutions but still fulfill that need to be accepted. Which is part of the reason that every website looks the same, and that’s ok. Website design is moving in a direction that is more homogenous but the end user is the one that reaps the rewards.
By now everyone with a smartphone knows that the ‘calculator button’ on a mobile website brings up the navigation. The logo goes in the top left corner and there is a slider with a big editorial advertisement for the company right below it. And that is ok.
Smartphones have heralded a revolution in the way websites are built. Responsive websites have not only made desktop websites easier to navigate, they have homogenized layouts and interfaces. In my experience, this has improved the quality of the content on the web because businesses can’t easily hide a lack of content behind an overly prideful presentation. People have to get down to brass tacks when it comes to their content and (most of the time) it streamlines the user’s experience.
There are still plenty of ways for websites to be creative and interesting within the framework, so all is not lost for the creatives. I would say that the best place to invest your creative genius is in a logo that doesn’t use Helvetica. It will fight like hell against your subconscious but there are better fonts and marks than those used by street signs everywhere. Don’t just take my word for it, read up and start innovating. Take a peak at the logo rainbow and tap into some creative gold.
