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Joe Dizon on starting your web standards journey.

Posted by Andrew Faulkner on November 13th, 2006.

Andrew Faulkner is the admin at fadtastic. Andrew prides himself on standards-based, accessible web design in the city of Nottingham, UK. He believes in aesthetically pleasing accessible design and that 'standards compliant does not equal boring.'

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Joe Dizon, 25, is a talented young designer based in the UK. His background is in print but would like to chat about his recent involvement in web design and particularly web standards. Joe’s hoping to persuade other up-and-coming print designers to embrace web standards when they start out on their web journey.

You’ll be first to admit that you have only just begun to adopt web standards in your work. What advice would you give to other web designers that are inexperienced in this field? Why embrace standards?

A major factor for me is by embracing web standards my sites become cross browser compatible. Until a few months ago I didn’t know that 2 thirds of the population are still using IE6. I’d say the main piece of advice is to learn modern web design.

I’ve have been working with HTML and CSS for approximately 12 months now and have only experienced designing with web standards in mind so you could call me a purist. What did you guys do before?

It’s best not to say! What qualities make a good front-end web designer?

An ability to design something whilst also thinking about how you are going to implement these ideas with HTML and CSS. If you are a novice then why design something that you can’t put into code?

And is this natural or learnt?

It’s about knowing your coding abilities when you are designing. Good design and an eye for composition comes easily to some, but if not with a bit of trial and error and a lot of feedback you’ll get there.

You love design - that’s obvious. Where do/did you get your passion for design?

Everyday dirt and grime, urban decay from the streets around me. I find it hard to be original looking at online inspiration but can see the worth of the gallery sites out there.

How do you keep the passion there?

Continual experimentation. If it’s not fun or you don’t get something from it then why do it! If you’re stuck for ideas then turn to someone else or try to inspire yourself by looking at the world around you.

What would be your ideal rebrand/rebuild job?

Maybe, MTV or T4 Any thing that’s aimed youth culture. Maybe your site?

Stick to doing the fadtastic header for now! Cheers, Joe.

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for the web, it should always be about designing for the need. if you want to show your creative pictures, then that’s your need. and your site architecture should reflect that. determine your audience, the nature of the web has given new meaning to the aesthetically functional, and a dynamic mixture of disciplines it is…

stephen eighmey
November 13th, 2006
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Now if I could only turn off those stupid birds.

Good interview though!

Nate K
November 13th, 2006
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it should always be about designing for the need

Hear hear!

Cheers Nate. I think it’s important to those making the switch to web to start out on the right foot.

Andrew Faulkner
November 13th, 2006
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[…] Joe Dizon on starting your web standards journey. […]

Max Design - standards based web design, development and training » Some links for light reading (15/11/06)
November 14th, 2006
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> What qualities make a good front-end
> web designer?

> An ability to design something whilst
> also thinking about how you are going
> to implement these ideas with HTML and CSS.

I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, too many “web designers” and web design companies don’t design for the web — they design for Photoshop. The clients are understandably impressed, but Photoshop doesn’t account for flexibility, scalability, or just plain old functionality. Compromises need to be made in the production process, and the end result is often a substandard, awkward and inaccessible site.

Incidentally, this principle applies to every medium of design. All great designers understand the medium that they’re designing for, whether it’s architecture, print, automotive design, or anything else. The web should be no different.

Marcello
November 14th, 2006
#

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