Web design is the core of a great platform. Not only is web design the future of digital marketing it’s the present and the past. If you’ve got a website that looks like a four-year-old put it together, you’re going to see your customer numbers drop like a stone.
But think for one minute before hiring a web designer. Look at the average website and you’ll find out one thing about branding today. It looks almost the same as the one sitting next to it. It leads us to wonder whether the creativity has completely left web design.
This is far from a cut-and-dry debate. In some ways, creativity has vanished, but in other ways it’s thriving as much as it ever did.
Giving the Customer What they Want
Part of the reason that some people think creativity has left web design is because websites are all roughly the same. Two-thirds of people want to read something beautiful not something plain. And they would be right, but look at it from the designer’s point of view. How often does a client come in and ask for something super creative?
The answer is never. They point to a website and ask for a generic lookalike. What they really mean is that they want THAT website. And that leaves the designer in a position where they can only do what’s asked of them. The client isn’t asking for creativity they’re being specific.
But Trends Evolve Over Time
It’s easy to blame the average client for a lack of creativity. Nobody seems to have the courage to try new things or to opt for something creative. But that only applies to the majority. There’s still a minority of companies big and small that want to find the next big trend.
Take the hero web design trend as an example. Testing and more testing have come up with the idea that a cape and glasses grabs people’s attention. That only came about because a minority was willing to be creative.
And that’s how it always has been. Some businesses aren’t interested in being on the cutting edge of things. They are willing to let someone else do the work for them so they can copy it later. It’s nothing new and it shouldn’t alarm people about what’s going to happen to web design in the future.
It Costs Money to Be Creative
What exactly is being creative anyway?
Creativity isn’t something that’s easy to define. The easiest way to boil it down to the bare bones is to refer to it as testing. It’s more a willingness to be bold and to think outside the box. But the reason why people don’t do this is it costs money, and not always directly.
Take the entrepreneur running a business out of their parents’ basement. They don’t have any overheads, but getting creative is still an investment. Time is money and in this case they’re spending time with trying new things. A lot of companies just don’t have this investment to spare.
So What Should You Do?
You may not be qualified to carry out web design testing. You might not know a thing about design, but the next time you approach your web designer you should do things a bit differently. Don’t just tell them what you want because that’s exactly what you will get.
You’re not allowing any room for creativity or flexibility. Give your designer some freedom to try something out. You can still tell them about the vision you have in mind for your website, but you’re not being specific.
It may take longer to get the job done because you might hate the first draft, but you’re more likely to get something that stands out from the crowd for all the right reasons. Put some trust into the guy behind the computer screen and see what he comes up with.
Always Moving Forward
But remember that you’re always moving forward. The whole industry is subconsciously marching forward. To say that the creativity has been sucked out of web design is wrong because there are always innovators looking to change the industry. It’s just that most people tend to be unwillingly dragged along.
You don’t have to dedicate your time to being creative. Let your web designer handle that for you by giving them the freedom to do that. By being non-specific about what you want, you might just get something revolutionary.
