Jon Setzen – Designing From the Ground Up: Approaching, Prioritizing and Executing Design

DESIGNING FROM THE GROUND UPFuture of Web Design / November 2014 / New York City

JON SETZEN@jonsetzen

DESIGN STRATEGYFiguring out the story and solving problems.

SIMPLE SOLUTIONS & SOLVING PROBLEMSFOCUSING ON CONTENTCREATING EXPERIENCESTORY BEFORE DESIGN

Today’s Agenda

X

“Good design is as little design as possible.” - Dieter Rams

PROBLEM SOLVINGA little bit of design helps solve problems quickly.

I’M NOT THE ONLY USERYou can’t design only for yourself.

DON’T DISRUPT WORKFLOWWhat seems better for you,

could be worse for someone else.

MY SIMPLE SOLUTION

USER FEEDBACK

“I can never remember if the sticker is for the coffee or the toaster. It drives me crazy.”

- Mindy (wife, mother of two, not a morning person)

ITERATE AND IMPROVE

DESIGNED…but not designed.

IT’S MISSING THE PRETTY

“Design makes what feels complex simpler, and what is simpler feel richer.”

- John Maeda

THE SWEET SPOT OF SIMPLICITY & EXPERIENCE

SIMPLE EXPERIENCESHelp us get what we want & need effortlessly.

IT’S ALL ABOUT CONTENTExperience. Stories. Understanding.

CONTENT WINSParallax Scrolling, not so much.

“Freely distributed information that’s relevant to the person reading it. That’s web design.”

- Dan Cederholm, SimpleBits.com

CONTENT IS VAST

“Content is anything that adds value to the reader’s life. It can add value by making them smarter, making them

laugh, making them do their job better, rush to their child to share the video, make a contribution to a charity”

- Avinash Kaushik, Google

GOOD CONTENT MAKES US FEEL SOMETHING

GOOD CONTENT MAKES US A PART OF SOMETHING

WE DO A LOT FOR THE CONTENT WE WANT

WE DO A LOT FOR THE CONTENT WE WANT

WE DO A LOT FOR THE CONTENT WE WANT

WE DO A LOT FOR THE CONTENT WE WANT

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR CONTENT?

CREATING AN EXPERIENCEThe unique story of your content.

LET’S TALK ABOUT MUSIC

Arcade Fire Discography Funeral Neon Bible The Suburbs Reflektor

GET YOUR STORY STRAIGHTThe best content tells the right story, right away.

WHAT IS WEB HOSTING?

THERE ARE OVER

40,000 WEB HOSTING COMPANIES

IN YOUR CITY THERE IS

ONE POWER COMPANY

+ approximately 39,994

tough metallic

dismissive machine-like

elitist

elegant conditioned

inviting human

approachable

Media Temple then Media Temple now

vs.

PERSONIFICATION

vs.

THE ARMY BEHIND YOU

MESSAGE DIVERSITY v. MESSAGE DISCIPLINE

Tell unique stories, not just the same story.

“The features for the price - but also your site design and blog posts - appealed to my sense of design aesthetic and seemed to be interesting, useful articles. Gave me a sense of professionalism that I liked.”

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

NEVER STOP TELLING A GREAT STORY

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE

YOUR BIG SPARK IS NOT A WIREFRAMEIt’s a story. It’s a solution. It’s an experience.

THANK YOU@jonsetzen

jonsetzen.com