Industry Talk

With changing trends and globalization many career options have opened up and of these, web design is a pretty lucrative field for dynamic individuals. But like numerous other careers that at its beginning suffered because of the Tom, Dick and Harry, web design too would fall face flat if trained, skillful and eligible individuals become a rarity. But the market’s need for more web designers has raised a question of how plausible it will be for the industry to employ the clearly talented.

Diagramatic understanding of Web Designing

The web designer is entrusted with the responsibility of giving the web page its unique feel.  But there are so many elements in the process of web designing that for anyone intent on offering a web design solution choosing the most applicable and relevant element among them forms the crux of the role and function. As the web designer is the most important architect of a website his efficiency is of paramount importance.
What is intriguing is, web design is not synonymous with the graphic designing part – an idea which is prevalent amongst most people unsure of the concept of web design. Again web design may not necessitate web development services. They indeed fall within the superset ‘web services’ but each of the services are specific and emphasize on certain aspects. So unless a web designer is completely trained and aware of the essentials of a web site, the designing may go awry.
Graphic designing units often work in tandem with the web designers to give the web site its design. However, it is noted that in the absence of graphic designing experts the web designer undertakes to completely preside over the construction of the web page. Naturally, organizations always prefer web designers who have a fair idea about graphic designing. But web designing is a continuous process because it is not just the creation of a website or web page but about maintaining it.
In his Theory of Designer’s Role in Website Design Daniel Baldwin states that “Learning how to communicate is the basis of website design”. The argument justifies the fact that a web designer should be aware of the end user and the internet audience when contemplating and designing the website. How the information should be catered to the surfers or how to direct the user to the right information and particular section of the website and how to drive more relevant searches towards the site are definitely precluded in the role and function of a web designing expert.

Web Designing Involves Planning

Unfortunately not every individual is gifted with the ability of effective communication. This means that only those designers who can conceive the needs of the user or the clients can use the web page as a medium for exchanging information. One thing to consider is that not everyone is gifted with being able to communicate effectively with others. With the rising competition on the net, websites have to offer something more pertinent and be updated to stay in the run. Under such circumstances the web design professional needs to indulge in research and analysis to be able to design a website or web page intricately.

In this century we are all citizens of the World Wide Web, hooked to our desktops, palmtops laptops and mobiles constantly surfing the net. Necessity is the mother of invention is a cliché but aptly defines the mass scale capture of market by the web design and web development companies. The truth is that more than a physical location people are now looking for a location in that virtual internet world to profess their existence.  From diaries to blogs and books to e-books and now websites which are home to organizations and institutions. The frequency of activity and the busyness of this web services business do indeed create a vast scope for web design solutions.

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Web Designing Entails Research and Analysis

A one line definition of web design would perhaps not assay the importance and the pertinence of the creativity involved. Apparently it is a meticulous use of the technology and dexterous tools that makes web design so unique. However, web design is just not a whimsical garnering of the technological know-how but it is like building a home. A home is just not erected out of the blue, there is a plan, it needs to look beautiful and at that it should speak oodles about the people who reside therein. Similarly, a website is a work of research engineered to explicate the visual appeal, add to the exquisiteness and offer an insight into intent of the organization, institution or person it was built for.

Obviously, web design needs more than just an aesthetic mind. It is demanding for it requires analytical, logical, aesthetic and editorial skills. Imagine the Wikipedia.org without its characteristic layout and fonts, Gmail without its innovative templates – they would just be bland word floating in a white space called the web. Luckily, technology has allowed us to find colour and vibrancy on the web. So the web designer is the architect of the website planning, revising and at that executing the plan.

Web design also precludes knowledge of graphic designing. In fact the entire web design process including designing web pages, web sites, web applications or multimedia uses disciplines, such as animation, authoring, communication design, corporate identity, graphic design, human-computer interaction, information architecture, interaction design, marketing, photography, search engine optimization and typography. It is but conspicuous that web design no longer remains confined to just a few parameters.

When the designer finally compiles the content and the graphics in hypertext or hypermedia, the end user sees the awesome websites. While acknowledging the limitations of technology, the web design expert would try to make the graphics compatible to the content developed. It is not stitching together these two aspects but combining them in a requisite proportion that matters the most. Creativity is not delimited to making something new it is now akin to innovation that perhaps elaborates the ‘newness’ and the originality. Web design completely gels in with this new age idea of creativity with a difference.

After 5 weeks of iPad use one thing has become crystal clear to me: Magazine, newspaper and book publishers are too focused on applying the same old, tired business rules.

Maintaining your current customer base is critical to any business, but the number of existing customers is generally a fraction of the total potential base.  We’re somewhere in the midst of an inflection point in the content business.  This is a stage where existing models are challenged, new ones are created, leaders can be toppled and the proverbial "guy in a garage" can completely reinvent things.  So why are so many publishers trying to apply all the old rules?  Here are a few examples:

Magazines at $4.99 an issue.  This one’s just too easy to pick on.  Are you kidding me?  The product is nothing more than a quick-and-dirty print-to-e conversion.  Were these guys not paying attention to the book industry when they saw nobody could sell their quickie p-to-e books at the print price? Curiosity is driving some sales now, but that’s not a long-term strategy. Look at some of the comments about Time’s app:

Only $260/year to get content freely available on the web or delivered to your door in print for a fifth of that.  Idiots.

If each issue was a dollar I’m sure more people would buy this mag.  $5 is silly.

Time notes that they’re only selling single issues right now and that a subscription model is coming.  Fine, but in the mean time how about doing something more creative?  If not a dollar an issue how about giving me the last 5 issues for $5.  Just because you can sell print copies at a newsstand for $5 each doesn’t mean you should charge the same for single digital issues, especially when there’s little to no value added.

I really want these guys to succeed and I’m more than willing to pay a reasonable amount for an issue or a subscription.  They should use this opportunity to come up with models that help them reach new customers, not just squeeze the early adopters because they know they have more disposable income.

P.S. — It seems so obvious but I can’t help think these guys have forgotten that they make a good deal of money on advertising, so if they go with lower prices and expand their audience they’ll increase their reach…without the cost of printing and mailing.

Newspapers are still asleep at the wheel.  The New York Times seems afraid to commit.  Their Editor’s Choice iPad app is OK but it’s more of a teaser than a viable, long-term product strategy.  As I mentioned in this earlier post, these guys are just training me to find workarounds to get the content I want.  And although I’d love to pay for a subscription they don’t even offer one.

USA Today is doing a better job but only going half way to a total solution.  Their iPad app is nice and it’s even free.  I only read USA Today when I’m on the road but I’m starting to read it more thanks to this app.  That said, they need a model that pushes the content to me every day, not one that forces me to open the app for updates.  Go ahead and charge…it’s OK!

My local newspaper is more typical of the larger problem though.  We’ve been paying subscribers for almost 20 years and every month we’re one step closer to canceling.  Want to know how they could keep me on board?  Offer an iPad app version of the paper for free with my print subscription.  And please, make sure it includes every bit of content that’s in the print version.

The focus there is on customer retention, not reaching new ones.  To solve that problem, how about forging alliances with other newspapers so that the app provides much broader access?  So if I’m heading to Seattle today I can open my app on the flight west to catch up on all the local news.  Sure, you can accomplish all this in a browser for free…if you’re willing to grab the pages in advance.  But we’re talking about convenience, which often comes at a price.  And don’t forget about the additional advertising reach for all those non-subscribers today who could become customers tomorrow.

Lemmings waiting for the next channel to open.  Why does it seem like publishers are all sitting around waiting for channel equilibrium to happen on its own?  I have two words for everyone: Go direct!  Sure, you’ll want your products in iTunes, the iBookstore, etc., but why is everyone so leery of creating a direct relationship with their customers?  Yes, some existing accounts will complain, but if you’re not building a direct strategy you’ll lose in the long run.  Despite Apple’s "closed" model it’s remarkably easy to add epub books bought elsewhere to your iBooks library.  And look at Amazon.  Even though they have a Kindle app for the iPad, any purchases you make for it are untouched (and untaxed) by Apple.  Why wouldn’t you want to capture 100% of the transaction by building a direct channel, especially since the choices aren’t mutually exclusive?  The more storefronts your products are in, including a storefront of your own, the better!

Here’s an example of how we should all be thinking: The Elements, from Touch Press.  Why would a tightwad like me spend $14 on a subject I dreaded in high school and has nothing to do with my job or personal interests?  Because it encourages discovery.  I don’t know the difference between Dysprosium and Holmium but this crazy app makes me want to learn more about both.  So while most chemistry publishers would have done quick-and-dirty p-to-e conversions, these guys took the time to make the topic fun and interesting.  As a result, they’re reaching far more new customers than a dusty old periodic table ever would have.

So if the periodic table can be completely rethought to encourage discovery and reach a totally new audience, what about the topics you specialize in?  How can The Elements inspire you to approach your business differently?

Before delving into the debate of whether the electronic media is hell bent on erasing out the age old aura of book publishing there is a need for revising our notions of publishing as a concept. Etymologically the word finds its roots in Old French ‘publiss’, implying ‘to make public’.  Around the sixteenth century the term was used for ‘bring out a book’. Publishing is invariably an expression connoting, making something public.  If anything at all, the definition in itself illustrates that the electronic media has definitely not defiled the book publishing process but improved it.

A Child Reading an e-book- the 'new baby' of Book Publishing

Books are means of information and they make knowledge accessible. Today, knowledge is measured on the parameters of quality and quantity with the valuable consideration of ‘time’ which has been factored in. Naturally, the better the technology the greater is the scope for book publishing. Electronic media has ascertained that book publishing becomes expeditious, books more accessible and readers more content.  Electronic media, it is fair to suggest has cooperated in retaining the thirst for books. Television, radio and internet have together hoisted a renewed appeal for books at large and sustained the book publishing industry.
The credibility of the assertion that electronic media complements book publishing lies in the fact that today at the press of a button we can easily read Harry Potter, Fish Tales, Richard Bach and not go hunting down the books in libraries and bookstalls. Book publishing houses have upgraded the entire book reading scenario and e-books or electronic versions of their publications are uploaded for readers to enjoy.  Those in contradiction enumerate the cons in this innovative, new generation idea of e-books.  But to address this concern book publishing houses upload the books just the way it is published. Right from the cover design to the fonts and the formatting, the book is replete with all the facets of its offline printed edition.
With the changing trends in lifestyle, the leisure hours have been curtailed to meager minutes. Under such annihilating factors as demanding work schedule sitting at the net and looking for news and switching windows to read your favourite author is a welcome option.  Sometimes electronic media, especially the television showcases documentaries on the lives of authors enkindling an interest in the mind of the viewers to read their works.  In a way electronic media has redefined book publishing.
From the Indian perspective book publishing is associated with a sense of nostalgia. For this bias, the e-book publishing solutions took quite some time to become popular in the Indian market.  However, globalization has brought about a marked difference in approach of the readers worldwide and book publishers have welcomed the electronic media with open arms. The symbiosis thereof has attributed to easy accessibility of the knowledge process.
It is however true that the old world charm of flipping through the pages is indeed a thing of the past. The movies based on novels and documentaries on historical facts add to the reluctance of readers to read the books.  Another reason why the online publishing solutions have made headway is it does not incorporate the entire long drawn printing services which need to be completed before the printed edition of the book is marketed. Among the electronic media the Internet especially has given book publishers a run for their money. Notwithstanding the growing base of the internet, book publishing has competed well with the web design and web development industry.