August 22, 2006

Seeing is Believing

When evaluating potential projects, particularly those designed by others, I've taken to considering a project's portfolio potential. If I don't think it will add to my portfolio, I'm less likely to do it.

My focus here is almost entirely on design. It's not that design is all that matters in a website. However, good design is what people notice—they recognize it in a glance—whereas who out there can spot world-class markup and style, or first-rate usability and accessibility? A relative few.

Humans are visual. When we don't believe something, we say we can't see it. But seeing isn't just believing, it's the basis of our immediate experience. The visual realm dominates in no small part because it's literally before our eyes.

So what do you do when what you do best—writing elegant, bulletproof CSS—is not just "under the hood" but a thing of near Kabalistic mystery? The smart approach, it seems, particularly when addressing a non-technical audience, is to list, in simple language, the advantages of CSS-based websites: cheaper, faster, easier to change and maintain, higher-ranked, etc. However, such claims must be taken on faith, and cannot, in any case, be seen the way a design can be seen.

My point is this: When potential clients review the Luminous portfolio, I don't expect them to recognize the real value of what I do. Instead, with few exceptions, I expect my services to be judged on what is often not even my doing: the designs of my designer clients.

I see no way around this. Until the day I discover how to turn CSS into gold, or something equally eye-catching, I need to remain selective about which projects I include in my portfolio—or even which projects I decide to take on. There's no trumping visuals.

Published in Business, CSS, Design