Design for Users is a must-read for everyone

[suchona.kani.z]

" M dot websites can be a nice temporary solution. But only responsive websites are sustainable in the long term."

The web design process (let's really count just design, not development) is a demanding and complex process . It's been a long time since one person could do it. Today, you need a graphic designer, a UX designer, a copywriter, analysts, and a secretary who will brew hectoliters of coffee for all of them.

Let's assume that everyone understands that the user's interest is important, not " making the website look good ". If not, add a magistrate to the list of people. This approach is called Human Centered Design (note: human, not user. The essence of the matter is to perceive people as people, not as items in analytical tools). You can find great training on Human Centered Design at Seduo.cz .

Michálek recommends researching users using the User Centered Design Canvas method.

"There are usually more outputs from the research phase of a project in larger projects (…). However, the User Centered Design Canvas is a tool that can summarize them on one page. In larger projects, the UCD Canvas can serve as a summary that accompanies all team members through the project. In smaller projects, we can do without additional outputs."

The Canvas looks like this, it summarizes the most essential part of the analysis:

User Centered Design Canvas Example

You can find out how to work with such a template here .

The book also made us realize how important it is to have a coder involved in the design of the website, because then the design often doesn't meet the technical requirements. As an alternative, he suggests an homeowner database approach where the main tool is paper and pencil . The author admits that this is not a method suitable for agencies, but it certainly offered us a more critical perspective on our own work.

If you can't quite imagine it from the description, it illustrates the template and process with an example.

Carved in stone: Graphics can be appealing, but they must serve
One of the common mistakes is to create attractive and captivating websites. Graphics must serve a purpose , which is usually to generate demand or sell a product.

That's why you need a designer who knows what he's working with. Web design has its own specifics. The most common mistake is typography - that is, letters. Because beautiful design attracts attention, that's for sure, but only readable text will sell.

How we rate the book
We liked the book, although some of us actually skipped the technical passages. Martin Michálek has prepared an admirable summary of facts, recommendations and examples of how (not) to do web design. There are few technicalities in the book, the whole issue is explained quite simply.

At the end of each chapter you will find a summary and, above all, tips on what other books and resources are worth reading. We give this a huge thumbs up.