What has changed in web design?
In the last ten years, there have been many anticipated changes
in web design.
Technologies have changed, tools are better, connections are faster
and we as designers have increasingly an equal and valued role.
Internet Explorer is outdated and so no longer needs to be supported.
There are more animations and more advanced visual effects.
How has technology changed approaches to web design?
The design tools have also changed
and today, designers can produce a prototype relatively quickly,
that already looks like the final solution
and we test it with end users.
For smaller websites, we can now use tools
that don't require any coding - so-called "no code" tools.
In the meantime, HTTPS has also become the standard,
responsive has become standard.
The principle of designing and creating a "mobile first" website
is a useful method,
as most users nowadays access the web from their phones.
The biggest changes in the user experience of websites?
During this time, the field of user experience and user interface design,
known as "UX UI designer", was also popularised,
bringing new approaches to design,
where the designer designs the entire experience or service.
This means that it's not just about graphic design,
but design from the start,
from research, analysis, to workshops with stakeholders, for example,
to prototyping, testing the user experience
and constantly iterating to come up with the best solution.
At the same time, editing a major website today requires a whole team,
from a content editor, a photo editor, a technical editor,
to individual writers, marketing, social media editors,
user support, a testing team and others.
However, public services or public sector websites
have developed the least during this period.
And there it is a real exception to have designers in the development of services
right from the start.
Hardly ever in these initial stages,
and this is what we need most in Slovenia today.
Is the user experience the essence of a website or just an added value?
At 3FS, we work mostly with foreign clients, primarily in Scandinavia,
where good design is the essence of the product, not just an added value.
They understand the principles of design thinking and planning.
And that's why in the project we start with a pre-study,
basically a survey and a workshop
that results in a prototype.
We plan the infrastructure and the project itself,
and then we get down to the actual development of the product.
This is exactly what we need in Slovenia today,
where this has not yet become a standard practice.
Yet the role of designers is becoming more and more that of a product manager,
strategist, planner, researcher and implementer,
rather than just the final decorator of a website that has already been designed,
and I am very happy about that.
An enlightening anecdote from a user experience and user interface designer...
There were three designers and one developer sitting in a meeting
and one of the designers tried to convince the programmer
that 16.22 pixels was the final specification
and it would be nice to follow it.
A mistake we often make is not knowing how to work in a team.
As designers, we are guilty of not understanding technology,
but at the same time too self-conscious to learn.