The Coders Challenge – Good Design
I have to admit that when it comes to actual design, I often find myself at a loss. I can certainly look at a website and spot good design when I see it, but alas, when it comes to doing it for my own sites I tend to hit a brick wall.
I can very easily admit that I’ve never been the most creative or artistic of people, but I personally find it very frustrating to not have that ability to gain those moments of ‘insight’ into design elements. More often than not, what begins as a simple design ends up becoming more and more complex until I no longer like it. Somewhere along the line I lose that element of simplicity that I find so appealing in other sites.
So, I find myself wondering how it is that people with this particular limitation can change that. I am most assuredly, a coder – not a designer. While I understand that statement is considered the universal excuse for poor design, it became that for a reason. I know I’m not the only one who has this issue. So, where to begin with that good design?
In business, I prefer to work with designers who will create a layout for me, and simply make the code work marvelously for those sites. A bit of a stubborn streak on my end is intent upon designing my own sites myself. However, having just revamped the design of this blog and my website, I find that I am already displeased with it and feeling the urge to redesign again.
All that really tells me is that I either felt it was ‘good’ because I’d finally finished wrangling with it but that it never really was, or that I simply have one of the most short-term interest levels in the world. I’d prefer to lean toward the latter, because the former is definitely one that rings more true but is also a reflection of what I would consider a consistent issue of design failure.
So, here I sit this morning, browsing through some various designs and trying to find that ‘flash’ of inspiration. A design that I will like for more than a couple of weeks. I’m certain that somewhere in the midst of all the coding languages floating around in my mind, there are a few creative brain cells somewhere. Perhaps they just like to sleep in late in the morning.
~Nicole
