41 What Web Designers Think
“
Trends are extremely overrated in our industry, and
we are always trying to be trendy and cool and appear
"current." I think that we should strive for holistic user
experiences instead—experiences that don’t rely
on trends for their effect, and designs that try to be
timeless and bulletproof...
”
Vitaly is absolutely spot on. However, I think it’s important here to
understand the difference between staying current to the latest
design “fancies” and staying current to industry standards and
best practices. Several of the experts I interviewed explained the
importance of staying on top of developments in the field of pro-
fessional design:
“
For the last year or so “responsive web design”
has been on everyone’s lips. Treating web designs
as flexible, fluid layouts, which specifically alter
depending on their circumstances, is an exiting idea for
a couple of reasons. Firstly, it recognizes the fact that
our browsing habits are changing, as are the devices
we use to access web content. Secondly (and more
importantly), it marks a change in the way designers
are approaching their designs. We’re starting to think
differently, flexibly, and the funny thing is we could
have taken this lateral perspective a long time ago.
”
—Ian Yates
“
I think being current means understanding multiple
platforms. It’s not enough that you can code HTML/
CSS for desktop browsers now, you need to know
how to take that and make it evolve for tablets and
smartphones. I’m teaching someone the basics of
HTML/CSS at the moment, he’s picked it up really
quickly, but I’m dreading having to add into the mix all
these other facets of what we do, as it can seem so
daunting.
”
—Sarah Parmenter
