Big question: what are your views on the term ‘web design’?

Stu Collett
www.superuserstudio.com

‘Web design’ is a rather vague and out-dated expression of what many of us now do. As websites have become more like environments and as digital design practices have developed, it no longer seems adequate. At Super User Studio, we refer to ourselves as both user experience designers and digital product designers.

Stu Collett is a co-founder of Super User Studio

Jonathan Smiley
zurb.com

The web is still a big deal, and a bigger deal every day, so I have a hard time getting worked up too much over any limiting connotation ‘web design’ might have. That said, when people ask what I do I say I’m a designer. I usually follow up with “mostly on the web”. It’s just easier that way.

Jonathan Smiley is a design lead at ZURB

Jason B Jones
centresource.com

I think the emergence of terms like interactive designer or user interface designer seem to more appropriately fit the work we actually do. However, I’d rather be known as a good designer than any platform-specific skillset.

Jason is co-owner of Otterball and creative lead at Centresource

Mike Buzzard
www.cubancouncil.com

‘Web design’ is clear and understood with the vernacular of today’s specialist as well as laymen. The media format being identified, ‘web’, is specific enough to suggest a particular skillset and understanding of creative and technical capabilities, limitations, implementations and, most importantly, expectations.

Mike is a partner member of Cuban Council

Shane S Mielke
shanemielke.com

It’s an antiquated and vague term that means very little to any of us. It doesn’t scratch the surface of describing all of the roles involved on a project, some of which have nothing to do with visual or stylistic design. It also doesn’t elaborate on all of the ways in which our work doesn’t just live on the web any more.

On the other hand, when we try and tell people about our fancy titles or job descriptions we’re often met with blank stares. When I describe what I do it changes depending upon whom I’m talking to and how much they know about our industry.

For family members, strangers or my neighbours I normally default to saying I’m a “photographer and graphic artist who creates websites”. The typical response is “cool, sounds like fun” as there’s nothing glamorous about what we do and there’s no way to make it sound anything other than geeky. 

Shane is designer and creative director at 2Advanced

Elliot Jay Stocks
elliotjaystocks.com

Being a ‘web designer’ is often a case of being a jack of all trades and as such is a rather broad term. But sadly it also has something of a stigma attached to it. Tell people outside the industry that you’re a web designer and you’ll often be met with a response like, “Ah, maybe you can help me fix my email ... ” I prefer the term ‘designer’. While it’s certainly a lot broader, it better alludes to the importance of aesthetics in my work. Plus, for me personally, working on the web is only part of what I do.

Elliot is a designer and illustrator and the founder of typography magazine 8 Faces

Chris Coyier
chriscoyier.net

Love it. It’s simple and clear. Most people have some understanding of what a web designer is. They think you make websites. That’s good enough. If the conversation goes deeper and they are truly interested, that’s fantastic. You can take the opportunity to explain more about exactly what you do from day to day. That’s different for all of us.

I might tell somebody that when I design things, I think about what it’s going to feel like for a user to see and interact with the thing I’m building. I try to make the things I think they are going to do easy, obvious, and rewarding.

Chris is a web designer working at Wufoo

Leisa Reichelt
disambiguity.com

Back when I used to use Front Page to build web pages (sorry internet – it was a LONG time ago), I used to call what I did web design. These days, I find the term so generic as to be meaningless. What does ‘web’ mean these days? What kind of a designer are you? What do you actually do?

How we describe ourselves and what we do is important because it is part of how we educate our industry and the people we work with about what the component parts of our craft are and what is important.

It’s why I’ve spent the past years trying to explain information architecture then user experience to taxi drivers and my non-internet friends. We need to be more descriptive – precision matters.

Leisa is a freelance user experience consultant

Jeff Croft
jeffcroft.com

I do feel as though the term ‘web design’ is a bit dated. Although much of my work is still on the web, more and more of it is not, and I think that calling myself a ‘web designer’ doesn’t adequately describe my skillset. These days, I usually call myself a ‘digital product designer’ or sometimes, just a ‘designer’.

Jeff is a designer, author, speaker and blogger

Christopher Schmitt
christopherschmitt.com

The industry has become more fractured, specialised into various different disciplines. You have information architects, frontend specialists who work on CSS and HTML (but also program JavaScript), backend specialists, mobile app developers and so on. There are even normal looking people walking around that call themselves “social media experts” without a hint of irony.

A decade ago, one person could handle most, if not all, the needs of a web project. With automation and frameworks, a lot of the load of a small to medium-sized web project can still be done by one talented person – but you need a team for the long-term nurturing of an online presence.

I refer to myself as a “web design specialist” since most people out of our industry know what “web design” means – which is stunning when you realise this field didn’t exist 15 years ago.

Christopher is chief creative officer for Heatvision

Rob Mills
bluegg.co.uk

For some projects, ‘web design’ is an accurate term. For others where IA and content strategies are needed, can’t we just use those phrases: IA and content strategy? When I describe my profession I usually say that I’m a studio manager for a design agency, working on print and web design projects.

Rob is studio manager for creative agency Bluegg

Chris Mills
dev.opera.com

I think ‘web design’ is still a reasonable term to use when discussing what we do with non-technical people. Yes, it limits the scope of what we do, which involves content strategy, IA, UX, accessibility, interaction design and more. But it’s a more recognisable term for the uninitiated.
However, I never call myself a web designer, as it’s not really what I do in my day-to-day work. Sometimes I am a web educator or web education advocate, sometimes I am an open standards evangelist, and sometimes I am just a web technologist.

Chris educates on open standards for Opera

Mike Mackay
mikemackay.co.uk

The term ‘web design’ is pretty much archaic these days. But if new clients approach me as a ‘web designer’, sometimes it’s easier to maintain that term. I make a distinction, though, between the development that I do and the visual work that I get a designer to do. I feel the generalisation lies between the actual term and work carried out, not the distinction between protocol, functionality or mode.

Mike is a web developer and regular .net contributor