Your Website is Nice…but I Liked the Book Better

I was waiting in line to see the new GI Joe movie this past weekend.  As the theatre emptied from the previous showing, I overhead a few people discussing the movie and, in true fanboy fashion, were criticizing it for not being more like the comic book.  The comment struck me as unfair and made me think on how often we judge things based on what they are not, rather than what they are.

Yellow Spandex Doesn’t Work on the Big Screen…

We can somehow accept Wolverine wearing yellow and blue tights in the comic books, but would cringe at seeing Hugh Jackman decked out as such on the big screen.  Books, movies, comics, television, print media, the Web, etc. – each medium has its differences and what works in one may be laughable in another.

As a Web designer, the concept of one medium being judged unfairly as another, or even forced to mimic that other medium in a fashion, is something I am all too familiar with.  Project kick-off meetings where it becomes obvious that a client wants their Web site to be a printed brochure, or a billboard, or (worst of all) a Hollywood blockbuster movie, complete with special effects and a killer soundtrack, is a pain that most Web professionals have known.

While this may be an experience we have all shared, it is not one that makes for successful Web design projects.  A Web site is a Web site.  Trying to design it to be something other than a Web site is like forcing Christian Bale to wear blue underwear over a set of tights simply for the sake of accuracy.  It will look ridiculous.

…Neither Do Giant Space Squids

I remember being in the theatre to see Watchmen last year (warning – spoilers ahead), anxiously awaiting the climatic scene where Ozymandias’ plan comes to fruition and New York is destroyed by…a giant space squid.  Yup, for those who have seen the movie, but have not had the pleasure of reading the source material that produced this story, Adrian Veidt’s secret weapon is not Dr. Manhattan, but a cosmic cephalopod.

While I was bummed at not getting to see the spectacle of a massive space squid on screen, I quickly realized why the story was changed and appreciated that the ending chosen for the film was much more appropriate for the medium.  I judged the movie on the merits of it being a movie, not solely against the comic book from where it came.

Understand the Medium, but Respect the Source

Whether you are making a movie or designing a Web page, critical to the success of your project is an understanding of the medium you are working in, but just as important is a respect for the ancillary materials that are also a part of your client’s brand.

A Web site is just one part of a client’s visual identity.  Their print and marketing materials, their office space and even their employees help paint an overall picture of a company.  The way these various, and sometimes disparate, entities interact with each other is something we need to consider and account for as we create Web site designs.  A Web site isn’t a printed brochure, but it should respect that printed brochure and work alongside it to achieve a client’s overall goals in the same way that a movie based on a book should respect those source materials.  Each will have its differences, but in the end, they should tell the same story.

Looking at the Big Picture

While I consider myself a Web designer first and foremost, I count myself lucky that I do not only work on the Web, but also have the chance to do print work - from business identity to magazine ads to large format graphics for trade show booths and banners.  Being able to work in these non-Web mediums, especially for clients for whom I am also doing Web work, helps me to see how they all tie in together to meet a client’s overall needs.  This knowledge makes it easier to work with clients to create Web sites that do indeed complement their other marketing materials, instead of trying to mimic them ineffectively and inappropriately.

A Web site should be judged on the merits of it working as a Web site, just as a movie should be judged on the merits of it being a movie rather than a comic or a television show or a book.  What works in a 652-page Harry Potter novel will not work onscreen as a page for page translation, regardless of what overzealous fans may think.

Embracing the strengths of the medium you are working in, but also allowing yourself to see the big picture, will help you and your clients tell their story most effectively -  and if yellow and blue spandex or enormous sea life from outer space are part of that story and work in your medium, then embrace those elements and go for it, your project will be all the better off for it.