The truth is that people have been driving Web-design quality so high since the early nineties — so much good design has been learned — that people without the skills to do this from scratch can leap forward on shared collateral.
The templates and options that come with cutting edge website builders or content-management systems are so robust and expandable that it is easy to mistake their output for custom-built media.
New Sense of Originality
Websites, as design products, should be judged in new ways, not so much the way we used to appreciate flat, 2D forms of media like brochures. Many websites today function as online brochures, sure. Yet even the simplest add-ons can be installed that greatly increase a website's powers of interaction as people use and read it.
The fact is that we would do better to assess a website according to the kind of community it serves (and how much of that audience is actually participating with the site's interaction tools). A website is like a conversation that is always in progress to some extent (or, it is always ready and able to function in that way) — not at all like a static piece of paper, however slick or fancy that may be.
Even though a client may want to leverage many, if not all, of the ready-made pieces available as the components of their new website, nevertheless, integration of key branding like logo, byline, voice and special graphics can properly distinguish the overall design.
There is absolutely no issue of copying or the infringement of any content, by the way, since the people-power (old-fashioned creativity) and the automated systems that we use produce novel results. Fair use of simple elements (many of which have become like online benchmarks in terms of graphics, like tabs at the top, and so on).
Age of Distraction
If there is one thing to keep in mind as you use intelligent online systems and affordable hybrid design services like ours (a mix of old-fashioned invention and customer service, together with the best ways to leverage existing design quality), then it's this: make your message and overall image as cohesive as possible.
In an age when websites compete with killer Google content, or paypal casinos, your message needs to be as honest, and as piquing, as it can be. Much of that comes directly from your enthusiasm — just let your Web media and content reflect that!
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