Web Design Image-free: No Graphics

Category: UX

Published: 01/19/2010 07:56 a.m.

First, I want to say I am not a web designer, among other things. I read about them on the internet, and I enjoy some of their fantastic work or funny quips. I work with some very talented designers. Still, I am not at all a web designer. But I have designed things.

I designed this website almost from scratch. I based it on a few things I had seen (like Manifest), but most of the code was re-written. I don't think I have a single image in the design. There are a couple on content pages and aside from the Creative Commons Logos at the bottom, I do not use images very often. Here are a few reasons why:

Most of my stuff is writing.

Writing doesn't need images. I tell stories and think thoughts and make odd conclusions. All of this happens without images. Aside from embedded videos, the rest of the content is both short and long form writing. Most of the people who read this see it in a feed reader, which tells me they like to read the writing, not to just look at it. Meg includes images because they go along with her stories and content. My stuff is less a history of things and more about thoughts and visions.

I want a fast site.

My site generally loads in less than a second. If there is any delay, it is probably because I only pay for dirt-cheap hosting. The text renders very quickly and all the styles load in a single CSS file. The whole group of files loaded is very small. Images that would be loaded would only slow things down. Google recently started tracking site loading times in Webmaster tools, which says to me that they are placing more importance on speed. Speaking of Google, I use no graphics because...

It's great for SEO.

Most of the text in the code is content, not markup. I don't bury things in tables and leave text in images or any of the other major pitfalls of bad SEO design. Google gets a very good idea about what my pages are about. Google also gets it fast because there isn't any junk code to get in the way of the content. This means crawls my content faster and indexes it faster. So, if I ever publish anything that is time-sensitive, I will have a jump on others. The search engine doesn't see crap in the code the same way you don't see crap in the sidebars or all over.

It is very usable.

Jakob Nielsen has said that he uses very few images on useit.com for many of the same reasons I have listed. While I haven't gone image-less to copy him, I do agree with him. Images just aren't needed. I can highlight the nav and footer and other important page areas with simple CSS. I can style headings and sidebars and other page elements just using code, and without any crazy javascript tricks. It takes a bit more work, but you can craft a website that functions beautifully with only style sheets. If you are having trouble using this site (i.e. reading things, finding things), please let me know. I'd be very curious to hear your issue. And finally...

I am not a designer.

I'm much more of a design critic than a creator. I can spot good design and often explain why it's good, but that is much different from making it. I don't have the skills or experience with the software, but the biggest thing I lack is the vision. Even simple wireframing is a struggle for me. I just don't know what I want things to look like, so I simply don't make them look like anything.

In engineering, the design is always secondary to the function. If the bridge collapses, then it doesn't really matter how pretty it was. In high school I contemplated doing Architecture, but instead chose Mechanical Engineering. I did this mostly out of a fear of being able to make beautiful design. I think the differences between those two professions are very similar to the differences from someone who writes code and someone who designs in Photoshop. Both make websites, but in very different ways.

There are surely ways to improve upon my design, but I don't think images are the way to do that. There is a clear focus on what I think is important. No distractions and no blogchrome. I think it is a work of art. Simple, clean, clear, and easy. I like it.

Not surprisingly, beautiful simple design can come with gorgeous images. David Stagg has a wonderful site that shines with a specific aesthetic in mind and similarly has few distractions. It uses images in many ways, though each seems to be chosen carefully with intent to enhance feel and not just filling space. The use of images and graphics can create amazing designs, but they are just not something I use.

In the future I may toy with repeated gradients and tiny icons for things, though only if they add something. For a site focused on writing, the only design characteristic I really need to worry about is readability. My ultimate goal if for this design to be as simple as possible while still distinguishing itself from a bare, un-styled wasteland. If that will continue, I will be very happy.

UPDATE on 6/20/2010: I have removed the licensing info in lieu of text links, but I did add a giant picture of myself to the homepage. I also will share images, but they will not be hosted here. The only other images currently are the friend ads, but I think they are cool and not clutterd or slow.