Web Design Not Sexy Anymore?
May 17, 2004 | 
35 Comments
I’m not sure this is a real news-flash, but this weekend I was talking to someone about my job when I realized that being a Web designer was no longer “sexy.”
Back in the 90’s I’d relish the opportunity to tell people what I did. Back then it was “so cool” to be a Web designer. Now that I think about it, the further back I go the cooler it was.
And not only did others think it was cool, I actually did all sorts of sexy/cool work. Flash intros, creative “play-spaces”, lots of fun “meet the Web team” projects, and all sorts of interesting and off-the-wall paid work also.
Oh and we drank beer on the job while playing Unreal Tournament at the “request” of our CEO at one job. Can’t beat that!
Yep, Web design in the 90’s was all about “fun”, “sexy” and “cool.” Not so anymore. At least not for this Web designer.
Why do you think that is?
I think it’s because I actually know what I’m doing now.
Look at what it takes to create, what I think anyway, is a great Web site: Usability, goals, standards, information architecture, best practices, accessibility — these things aren’t really sexy. I mean, come one CSS vs. Flash? Flash is way sexier!
Don’t get me wrong, there is still a whole lot of “sexy” and “cool” in Web design. It’s just that those sexy moments are less frequent.
That’s probably a good thing. It could be argued that “sexy” and “cool” played a huge part in the whole .com crash of the late 90’s. I do kind of miss those days, but I think the change has been good, for all of us.
Filed under: Web Design
Comments
1. Seth Thomas Rasmussen said:
I dunno, but I’m kinda pissed I missed out on those days. ;)
And I think CSS is damn sexy, goddammit! The new Digital-Web, for example, made me want to hump my screen.
No joke.
Posted on May 17, 2004 08:26 AM | #
2. Justin said:
A couple months ago I saw a commercial for the Art Institute of Seattle. They were advertising the “exciting world of web design”. I almost barfed. They must have filmed the commercial during the boom, but if you went from the commercial alone, you’d think everyone who graduates will be scooped into a high-paying job in the blink of an eye.
Times have sure changed…
Does anyone know if they’re also running a commercial on learning to use a cutting edge communications system called “e-mail” where they can quickly get jobs using the system on behalf of management? There must be lots of jobs in this field. After all, who would expect managers to learn to use computers and do it themselves.
Posted on May 17, 2004 08:46 AM | #
3. Andrew said:
I agree: look back on all the fun you had and ask what of real lasting value you created then? It’s embarassing to look back at work you did ten years ago no matter what field you’re in, but it seems especially bad to remember some of the garbage we put together, and how sloppy and unprofessional it all seems now.
It’s hard to stay sexy as you mature I guess.
Posted on May 17, 2004 08:48 AM | #
4. Mike P. said:
Sad I missed those days too. I will say that putting together a well layed out full CSS site, working in good SEO and having great copy and images and an enthusiastic client is a *LOT* of fun.
But how often does that happen? ;-]
Posted on May 17, 2004 08:52 AM | #
5. wackomenace said:
When you tell someone that you’re a web designer, people automtically think that you’re one of those FrontPage jockeys. They no longer see it as a proper job or something to make a living from. In the past, when the web had just been invented, being a web designer showed you were with the times. Nowadays, so many people have the job that it’s no longer “special”.
Oh those were the days…
Posted on May 17, 2004 09:04 AM | #
6. DarkBlue said:
I’m currently working on getting my CMS to run on a 16-server cluster - now that’s sexy (and cool)! :-)
Posted on May 17, 2004 09:10 AM | #
7. Kyle said:
DarkBlue – I think this is the point Keith’s trying to make. That’s just not that sexy at all. ;) Sorry man, maybe a little cool to some people but not sexy. No way! ;)
I don’t think Web design should be that sexy. It should be kind of cool, but only if it’s functional and achieves it’s goals. That, it itself can be a little cool.
Posted on May 17, 2004 09:16 AM | #
8. Thomas Baekdal said:
Yes, Web-design is not what it used to be. In the crazy days of dot.Com it was so overhyped that a web-designer ranked almost as high as any CEO.
Today the rank of “web-designers” is about the same as a marketing assistent - and I think that is a good thing. Afterall it is not rocket science - the web-designers really have a tendency to make the building of websites harder than it really is.
Posted on May 17, 2004 09:22 AM | #
9. Laurie said:
That’s so true. Nowadays, if I say I’m a web designer, I get the “so are you making money out of this?” to which I would clarify that I’m an employed web designer working full time. They’re usually shocked and surprised - I guess there’s so much freelance (read “usually unemployed”) web designers out there. I guess that’s why it’s lost it’s sex appeal - very few are actually brining in steady income, by way of full time job or consistent freelancing.
Posted on May 17, 2004 09:31 AM | #
10. Keith said:
Good comments so far.
Thomas – I think “Web designer” might be a little higher than marketing assistant in most companies. And in my opinion, deservedly so. Being a good Web designer is very hard and takes lots of work. It’s not rocket science, but to do it right IS hard.
Having said that I think there are many levels of Web designer, from lower to very high. Although I’ve never seen a Web designer come close to a CEO…?
In my job I do much more than what a simple “Web designer” might. As with many job titles on the Web there is lots of room for interpretation.
But anyway, that’s not saying it’s any “sexier” to by higher up. Quite the opposite in many cases I’d guess.
Posted on May 17, 2004 09:36 AM | #
11. Mike said:
It’s embarrassing to be a designer of any kind in New York - cause almost everybody is. :)
Web Design suffers from getting mixed up with backend work I think, which definitely isn’t sexy. People don’t think that as much creativity goes into it as say print work, because of the geek side. And let’s face it, a lot of web design today is either so utilitarian that it’s completely bland, so obtuse and Flash-y that people can’t stand it, or just plain bad.
I don’t get surprised when people think I’m crazy for asking for a decent amount of money for what I do (i.e. more than $300) because theey think that anyone can do it, or they have a nephew in High School who ‘designs’ web pages. It’s tough to get respect, even when you’re “award winning.” :D
Posted on May 17, 2004 10:08 AM | #
12. caiuschen said:
Sometimes I use the term “web programmer” because I can do a lot of PHP stuff as well as construct pages, and I don’t tend to be as proficient with actually coming up with designs from scratch. If there’s slightly more room for description, I’ll always mention standards compliance, accessibility, and usability.
While some people don’t care about the aforementioned things, more people seem to be wising up. The more unsexy the stuff is, the more it screams out: competence! This guy knows and cares about the nitty-gritty details under the hood that I don’t want to deal with at all.
Posted on May 17, 2004 10:48 AM | #
13. Carlos said:
I have to agree with Mike. I’m also one of the many “designers” in ny. We get very little respect and often get confused for web developers or (gasp) graphic artists…
Posted on May 17, 2004 10:57 AM | #
14. Ryan said:
What is the world coming to? Web design was sexy and still is! So, people don’t appreciate good design? eh? They do!!
Or do they??
Most of these so-called graphic artists converge to web design using WYSIWYG interfaces that produce shit-stained tables and cells; and call themselves WEB designers!! ahhhhgg! We’d all be better off if designers new what they where doing! Don’t get me wrong most ‘graphic designers’ are probably good at what they do, print. It’s a whole nether enchilada when it comes to producing good web design.
I see the future end users wanting accessibility, good architecture, and decent content management in their design online. Once this happens, web design will be sexy again!!
raw! raw! raw! oh!, FrontPage needs to go….and IE (all versions).
Posted on May 17, 2004 12:53 PM | #
15. Seth Thomas Rasmussen said:
Designers sexier than developers? Back-end not sexy? What?? Obvious context aside, can we all just look at the phrase “back-end not sexy” and be amused for a moment?
…
Ahh.. seriously though, maybe I’m crazy, or just a hardcore coder waiting to emerge from this designer cocoon, but I’ve come to value the markup and code of a site, front, back or whatever end, to be just as sexy if not sexier than the surface.
And I think I say “if not SEXIER” because of some of the points others touched on: like the person from NYC, “who ISN’T a designer.” I recently noted at my job that I wasn’t too fond of the title “Web Designer” because, what does that say? To me, it doesn’t really touch on the ColdFusion CMS systems that I also do in addition to designing the look and basic HTML structure. But “Web Developer” is a bit dry, and “New Media Artist” too fluffy for some tool-jockey in Florida who just wants his inventory of nails online.
*sigh*
Titles are stupid, but web design is still sexy, on ALL fronts. It’s only as unattractive as you want it to be. And yeknow, I’ve seen some of you more popular developers/designers in the blogosphere snag some pretty attractive mates..
Ask them if web design is sexy. :)
Posted on May 17, 2004 02:10 PM | #
16. Bealzebubba said:
I’d have to agree that all of the front page/ fusion / dreamweaver “web designers” of the pre dot.bomb era screwed those of us who do DESIGN web media. During the boom in the SF Bay area, I knew of some of these so-called designers asking for (and getting) six figures a year. But, ahhhhhh - the correction, the crash. Now those same people are working for Starbucks (they were as skilled at financial planning as they were at design; they also settled for company shares that were as overvalued as their “design” skillets) But those of us who have been real designers with skills (read plural “skills” - web design is a little bit of several disciplines - imho) have merely morphed our titles a bit (I am now known as an information architect…) and kept right on working. Emphasizing one skill set a bit more than others when necessary (multiple skill sets is more a result of tenure and experience in the technology industry than anything deliberate). I have not suffered in any capacity as a result of the crash - in fact, finding work has been even easier. Employers have become much wiser - holding my resume (uninterrupted technology, mostly web - with all kinds of companies from start-ups to heavy corporate and all kinds of industry sectors - from travel to the finance, history of 13.5 years) up against the resume of a so-called designer (with 1.5 - 2 years of “design” experience 5 years ago… now employed as a shift manager @ Starbucks) always results in me getting the job.
Posted on May 17, 2004 02:27 PM | #
17. Seth Thomas Rasmussen said:
One more thing.. the person who cited the commercial for AiSeattle struck a chord with me.
I am a graduate of Ai Minneapolis, and attended the one in San Francisco as well. They definitely pump you full of the “I’m gonna be so f*cking successful!” stuff.
In retrospect, I feel kinda gyped (no offense). Saving most of it for places where it’s more appropo, and looking SOLELY at my coding:
-I learned NO server-side stuff while at school. A friend of one of my teachers taught like two hour ‘seminar’ oh some PHP. That’s about it.
-My HTML “skills” that I walked away with look like a joke compared to what I’ve gotten hip to in the last say, 6 months. (standards, CSS, XHTML, etc. etc.) I can barely stand to look at sites I made a YEAR ago, let alone this decade you guys talk about.
I graduated in 2002. I’ve been thinking about going back and checking up on what they’re teaching these days, and if it’s not what I’ve learned through sites like this one and my own searching, I feel I ought to bemoan them to shape up.
Posted on May 17, 2004 02:28 PM | #
18. Rob Cameron said:
When I tell people I’m a web designer I still get the “ooo, that must be fun!” comments, which I like. And it *is* still fun! Starting a new project is a great rush. It’s maintaining the old ones that feels so un-sexy to me.
Back when I started designing (8 years ago now) I didn’t feel “right” telling people I was a web designer because I didn’t feel like I deserved the title. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, even if no one else did either. Now it’s a title I’m proud to bear, even if designing is only 1/4 of my job any more, everything else is development and programming. But most people have no idea what you’re talking about if you tell them you’re a “web developer.”
Posted on May 17, 2004 02:43 PM | #
19. Alex Giron said:
Yes flash is certenly sexy… but so is CSS in a different and addicting way :D
Being a web designer these days takes more than just building a cool animation… like you said, there are things like standards, usability etc. The more you learn the more responsability you have.
Posted on May 17, 2004 04:12 PM | #
20. Thomas Baekdal said:
Keith (and everyone else), you are perfectly right about variation of web-designer skills - and that is exactly the problem. Everyone, from some ones nephew to very highly trained people can call themselves a web-designer. The word itself does not mean anything else than this is guys working with the internet.
If you are an electrician, a doctor, a paramedic, clothing designer etc. the titles are all based on a specific expectations of knowledge and training.
Imagine if everyone doing something even remotely related to the health industry could call themselves doctors. Then you could go up and ask a guy what do you do? “I’m a Doctor”, “oh, so you do surgery”, “Oh, no I wash the ambulance twice a week”… This would catastrophic to the credibility of doctors. How could ever trust a doctor again.
But, this is how it is on the web. Everyone just doing something remotely web-related is a web-designer. It is destroying the credibility of our profession.
And not only that, it is easy being a web-designer - because even today many companies only judge the work on what they can see visually in their Internet Explorer browser. So fire up FrontPage and hack it together a page and you have a professional looking output. We (the true web-designers) know that it is far from professional, and probably a waste of money, but the client cannot see that.
You (Keith) wrote
Yes. The difference between a good web-designer and just a web-designer is not the ability to actually build the website (as you of course know). A good web-designer knows that building a site is only 5% of the job, the rest is asking “why should we have a website”, how does it support our company’s goal, how does it support the readers, how do we organize the content, how do we get people to use it - not to mention how do we insure that it is the right people who use it. Now that is hard work, and takes a lot of skills to master. Just building the site is not hard work - not even with XHTML/CSS.
Posted on May 17, 2004 04:18 PM | #
21. Gwen said:
The unimpressed look is vastly preferable to the completely blank stare I got from the relatives and other non-biz folk for *years*. I can’t tell you how many hours I wasted trying to explain “that computer thing you do” to them.
Posted on May 17, 2004 09:16 PM | #
22. s t e f said:
I worked in one of those startup dotcoms. Heck yeah it was sexy. Every single day was an adventure in itself. People would ask you in the morning for something you didn’t know how to do it, and by the evening it was up and running. Mad times, but yeah, you’re right: that was sexy.
Actually right now I’m doing sexy things. The whole list you mentioned is still sexy (accessibility, standards, etc), although in a more geeky way perhaps, and it’s true that geeky is less sexy in other people’s eyes as what was a lot of show-off back in the old days. Maybe I’m over-enthusiastic, but I still get lot of excitation in all that, five years down the road.
We’re *still* reinventing our jobs. Look at what you did two years ago. You’re still improving, and quite often you still feel like a newbie.
That’s my definition of fun and sexy jobs anyway. And I don’t care that I’m not as sexy as we once were in other people’s eyes. The job is still sexy :)
Posted on May 18, 2004 02:07 AM | #
23. Will Pate said:
“Life didn’t get boring, you did!”
- Anthony Robbins
It’s funny what you can learn from an infomercial.
Seriously, I think as part of the creative class we’re expected to have the fun, sexy jobs. I live in a small island in East Coast Canada, where web design is still sexy. People’s eyes light up with excitement when I tell them what I do, and quite often they admit more than a little jealousy.
You’re right though, there has been a shift from flashy fun design, to having your content supported by a base of more solid code. The pendulum has swung toward more web developmenty stuff (IA, standards, accessibility) and that has naturally caused us to slip on the creative side. For the user, this has been a good thing. We just have to be careful that our new best practices don’t stifle us.
Posted on May 18, 2004 06:11 AM | #
24. Paul Nattress said:
My current job title is Content Editor which makes me sound more bookish than sexy. To add to this, I’m currently wearing a grey cardigan at work but that’s got more to do with the crappy air-con than anything else. Honest. :)
Posted on May 18, 2004 07:29 AM | #
25. John Bedard said:
Responding “Web Designer” tends to be a conversation killer these days. I usually give a much longer answer, which usually encourages further conversation, something like, “I design interfaces for web sites and web-based applications” (which is the truth). Usually they ask about the latter and ignore the former.
I’m waiting for the first savvy-enough (and smart ass) person to come along and respond, “So, you’re really just a web designer.” But most people around here just don’t know how to respond.
Posted on May 18, 2004 08:41 AM | #
26. Justin said:
If I were to put my finger on what is really wrong with “web design” schools, I’d say it’s their core approach.
By ‘core’, I don’t just mean the crux the class content. On a very basic level they are selling design as a commodity skill on the expired premise that companies are short on folks who can write their own tag soup. MS Word can generate enough tag soup for anyone, so why would I hire someone to do that?
At one time, that was sexy. Unlike any other marketing industry, the graphic designer was in complete control. If it looks good, it must be great! When, at any other point in the history of man, have artists held so much power over business and business decisions? Power is sexy.
What we have (and many of our clients will hopefully figure out) is that a successful website needs visual design as a component of a good strategy. Many of us here started as graphic designers, before we transitioned into business, management, project mgmt, UI design, or IA people - or a hodgepodge of them all. Web development is becomming sexy for people who enjoy strategy, while it becomes less for those who love art.
This is what so many schools are willing to overlook: the catharsis of the designer. The fact they are calling it “design” gives it away. That word attracts people who want the art and design aspect. The courses cater around the tag soup that belongs with that expired mindset. A real “design” designation should be a specialty of a design school, just as economics is a specialty of a business school.
The part that makes me sick, is thinking about these people who invest of themselves and their hard earned money in pursuit of a career that doesn’t exist. Not only does it make life difficult for professionals who’ve made it past this, but it leaves the student with an uncertain future and a mountain of debt. It is not a good situation for an artist who is forced to compete in a business world they were never trained to handle.
Posted on May 18, 2004 09:19 AM | #
27. cthathem said:
Yikes, what Seth said about Ai Minneapolis and that “if you’re finished with school, you’re going to be on the top..” :) that too, strikes a chord in me.
In 2002 I’ve finished 5 years of college (I’m an Austrian citizen, kinda different educational system around here..). Being focused on “regular” programming (C++ and the like) and software developement for the most part, the creative/web part was far left behind… and just figure it out.. you’re coming out of college, and your knowledge is…
1) patheticly little
2) out of date..
I too have learned much more valuable skills in much less time, since I’ve started to do my job. I’m a web developer/designer, doing graphics/artwork and some usability improvement.
:) .. but well, back on topic. I seldomly use the term “web designer” … it’s not considered a real job as you all pointed out earlier. So i stick to graphic artist, because web jobs rank second in my job assignments…
[ geg | cthathem ]
Posted on May 19, 2004 08:12 AM | #
28. Jen Santarelli said:
For me, web design stopped being sexy as soon as I made the transition from doing it as a hobby to doing it as a job.
Posted on May 20, 2004 06:46 PM | #
29. Jim said:
I haven’t met a single person outside my profession who understands what is meant by ‘web designer’. Those that have at least some incline certainly don’t think we deserve much respect. Wheras a graphic designer can reasonably expect a client to pay $60+ an hour for his time, a web designer asking for the same is usually scoffed at. I blame the manufacturers of WYSIWYG editors - their entire aim is to replace quality professionals with do-it-yourself design.
Posted on May 21, 2004 02:45 PM | #
30. downsize bug said:
one thing that the article missed was downsizing of company. it is not sexy see friends and co workers been let go.
Posted on May 23, 2004 07:59 PM | #
31. ShellDozer said:
“Web Design Not Sexy Anymore? I wonder why that is?”
…largely because of the number of people who
(recently), having failed to manage any other
vocation, resorted to passing themselves off as
professional website designers… :-(
These days, the title “Website Designer”, in the
UK at least, marks one out as someone who
(probably) is incapable of anything at all,
including website design…
Strange how times change!
Posted on June 17, 2004 09:31 AM | #
32. will said:
At my former employer, I was a “web manager”, as not only did I design our sites, but I managed the web server, advised on web-related topics, managed email, did programming, and was responsible for thigns such as SEO, etc etc.
When the dotcom boom crashed, as we all know, web designers had to learn a more varied set of skills, including many of the above.
So at my current employer, they dubbed me as “webmaster”. Feeling a little guilty for the gender-specific nature of that title, I have lobbied unsuccesfully to have my title changed to “web guru”, but alas, they wouldn’t go for it.
That said, I think the one title that best fits many of us is “Web Overlord”. Fear this.
Posted on June 30, 2004 11:52 AM | #
33. Mordechai said:
Maybe because I became Web-professional from the programming/technical side of things that I’ve preferd the title “developer” to “designer”. Also, “designer” always sounded to artsy to me.
As far as “webmaster” goes, I see that as one of many services I can provide a client, in addition to SEO, IA, etc.
The title “engineer” has a nice, if somewhat over used, ring to it. (I once knew someone who call himself a “Professional Media Distribution Engineer”. I suppose he felt that being in his twenties he was a bit old for “paper boy”.) How’s about “Web Development Engineer”?
Posted on June 30, 2004 05:13 PM | #
34. dam said:
ok
Posted on December 31, 2004 12:36 PM | #
35. diana1sbq said:
I have read all your comments with a bit of fear and trembling. I have a son who is a Senior in high school and wants to be a Web Designer. Based on all of your comments, it seems like I should tell him to choose another profession. Is there still too many unemployed Web Designers? Does anyone know the best path to choose school wise? He is currently thinking of going to Johnson and Wales in RI. Does it make a difference if he chooses a 2 year program verses 4+ year? Does it make a difference what school he goes to? There are schools here in Colorado that offer Web Design/E-commerce programs, but he seems to think that Johnson and Wales would be better. Do any of you have any answers? I would love some help!!!
Posted on February 14, 2005 06:34 PM | #
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