By Daniel Will-Harris

I've been a designer for a long time, and every so often I ask myself, "What's the point?" Sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in the superficiality of design that people think, "Well, that's pretty, but it's not important."

But the fact is, good design is valuable. It is worth something. It is important. Good design isn't superficial. It solves problems. It creates solutions. It adds value.

• In cyberspace it's design, design, design, not location, location, location.
• Design is natural, you can see it at work in nature.
• Design works, good design is how something works as much as how it looks
• Where in the world wide web are you?
• Hiring a Designer: what to look for.
• Working with a Designer: Communicating effectively to get the best results.
• Ready-to-wear design: using pre-designed styles
• Know the value of design and you can use it to your advantage.

And there are some concrete examples of this. Here's one: architecture, a highly visible form of design. A good example is Seaside, Florida. This small "planned community" was revolutionary when it was designed by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, because it went back to the old-fashioned idea of a town—it has small houses, close together, close enough to the commercial district that people could walk instead of drive. If you saw "The Truman Show," then you saw Seaside, it really does look like a picture-perfect movie set.

The town has extremely strict design laws that guarantee that new homes will fit in. That said, there's a lot of design flexibility in terms of style—some are classic, some are modern, but the rules help keep the town at a consistently high quality.

The result is that a tiny one bedroom house in Seaside can cost $450,000, while, just a few miles away on the very same beach, a house of a similar size can cost one-tenth of that, just $45,000. Since the locations are similar, and the square footage is similar, this is a clear example that what people are paying for at Seaside is not the traditional "location, location, location," but "design, design, design."

A study by the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency concluded, "We see that the most popular products are those which seem unique in terms of style or functionality."

Design, design, design

The same holds true for Web sites. In cyberspace there's no such thing as "location, location, location." It's all about design, brand, and, of course, content. You can have the best content in the world, but if it looks bad, it has a lot less value.

We all know that packaging is important. Whether or not we want to admit it, we've all bought something because we liked the way it looked. The Web is the same way—if we like the way a site looks, if it's interesting, distinctive, has personality, is exciting, stimulating or comfortable, we respond to it (not only can no one hear you scream), but differently than if it's nondescript, bland, without character.

One of the ways that the best known brands became popular is their design. Yes, of course, the quality of their product or information is important, but it's the design that immediately differentiates them from their competitors.

Design is natural

That's not only human, it's just how things work in nature. It's why flowers have interesting colors and smells—to attract attention from birds and bees. It's the most natural thing in the world.

Design works

Now, lest you get the wrong idea, design is more than skin deep. You can't just slap a pretty face on something that doesn't work and expect miracles (though they've been known to happen). Good design is as much about how something works as how it looks.

In web design, a good site design needs to be based on good site organization. How you're arranged and grouped your information. What you've named your sections. How your navigation works to help people get around the site and find what they're looking for.

So a good design starts not with the way a site looks, but the way it works—with the underlying structure of a site, the "what does this site need do for you," and "what does this site need to do for the site visitor." You can read more about this in Web Sense.

Where in the world wide web am I?

I am always amazed (and disappointed) at how many sites lose all sense of place once you scroll down from the top of the page. Yes, you could use frame to keep your navigation and logo on-screen, but also make sites harder to use.

So what's the simplest way to create a more distinctive site? Background images. They provide a simple, effective way to remind people where they are on the web, which is valuable both for them and you.

A simple, distinctive, background border reinforces a site's name and brand anywhere and everywhere on the page and takes only a few seconds to download once, then can be used repeatedly throughout your site. It's efficient, and it's effective. To learn how to create a background image, click here.

We're not talking rocket science here—do you want your site to look like everyone else's, or do you want it to be distinctive and interesting? Do you want your site visitors to know they're getting the information you worked so hard on from your site, or to simply forget and have it merge into all those other sites they've visited?

Don't lose a global opportunity to make people remember your site, and, in turn, reward you for providing it. Just because "everyone else" is doing white backgrounds doesn't mean you should, too. As so many parents have said in the past, "If all your friend were jumping off bridges, would you do that, too?"

Hiring a Designer

OK, so this is easy for me to say, this is my business. I've spent years perfecting my craft, and I was probably born with a certain aptitude for this to begin with.

But what if design isn't your thing? I mean, no one expects you to design your car or design your house. Why should you be expected to design your Web site?

Well, you aren't. So how do you get good design if you can't do it yourself? There are two basic ways. The first is to hire a designer. The second is to use software such as NetObjects Fusion as the "designer" and customize it to reflect your content.

Hiring a designer is easier on the Web than anywhere else because you can quickly see what designers have done, determine for yourself if you think it works (design should be based less on whether you personally like or dislike it and more on whether it works for the people it was intended for). You can also ask the site owner how the design has worked for them. Has it made them more recognizable? Has it improved their business?

A good designer will care more about helping you make your Web site and business more successful than he or she will care about doing something they think is "cool" and their designer friends will like. Don't be fooled by awards, which are usually given by their designer friends. Even if design involves art, you still need to be logical about it. Good design must work for you. It's that simple. If a designer doesn't understand that, don't hire him or her.

Working with a designer

Once you do hire a designer, you have to trust them. They are professionals and will be doing what they think is best for you. You can help them by telling them:

• What you want to say (rather than how you want to say it)
• Who your customers are (if the design pleases them, they'll please you. If you insist on a design that only pleases you, then your customers may not be inspired to buy your product or service and in the end you will lose)
• Specific features you need. You want your designer to create a design specific to your needs. If you try to add features as you go along, the design won't fit as well.

Read a complete article about working with designers.

Cost

How much should good design cost? Well, everything is relative, and design is no different. Even though the Web is global, the price you pay will vary from place to place around the world. Don't expect to pay less then $2,000 for a good Web design, but you can easily pay a lot more. Paying more doesn't always get you more, but paying less usually gets you less, if that makes any sense at all.

Remember, designers are professionals. You expect to pay a doctor, lawyer, or plumber if you want something done right, so expect to pay a designer if you want good work.

Some people think design is expensive. Those people don't understand its value. A good logo and Web design alone can make a business worth 10 times more. Generally, good design is worth a lot more than you pay for it.

Here's another example, I recently worked with a client who was starting a new business. She understood the value of design and didn't launch her business until she had a unique, professional logo and all her printed matter. This cost her several thousand dollars. But what it gave her was an immediate, distinctive image, and the illusion that she was already established. That made it much easier for her to attract clients, because they responded to the image she was projecting, and they didn't know she was just starting out.

"Ready-to-wear" design

If you can afford it, custom design is almost always best, because a good designer will handcraft an image for you.

If you can't afford it, though, there are ways to get an "off the rack" professional look, even if it's not custom just for you. NetObjects Fusion comes with more than 200 professionally designed styles that include backgrounds, buttons, and ruling lines. Together these sets create a professional, consistent image that makes your Web site look good and work well right from the start. To see these styles, sorted by impression, visit the Stylizer.

What you can do is take a few minutes to customize the style you choose. All you have to do is choose a different typeface, one that's appropriate for what you do (and if you're not sure what typeface to choose, I'll recommend my own free EsperFonto system that can help you). The same style can look very different just by changing the font you use on banners and buttons, and can help personalize and customize an otherwise stock style.

Value and values

The bottom line is this: Some people know the value of design, and some people don't. Those who do tend to be more successful than those who don't.

About the author

Daniel Will-Harris is a designer and author whose design and writing work can be found at his Web site. His site features TypoFile Magazine and EsperFonto, the Web's only typeface selection system. He may be reached via e-mail at daniel@will-harris.com.

Illustration: Business and Finance by Garrian Manning from www.artville.com