Great cheap websites (intended ironically, don't you think)!

Got a website? Great! Cheap too? Brilliant!!

Doesn't really create much business? You're probably glad you didn't spend too much money on having it designed/bulit! The internet, hey? Mugs game! :)

You won't be surprised to hear that I completely disagree. As many a success story will demonstrate, a website can be one of (if not the) most powerful tools in your marketing mix. But it really does take time, understanding and consideration, careful planning and execution to make a website that represents your organisation and all of the reasons for people to be interested in it.

Why do people what your product or your service? Does your website really capture that and convey it to your audience?

What is web design?

This has always seemed a great paradox to me and most 'design' companies fall in to the same trap of assuming web design is simply graphic design (but with limitations such as web-safe colours and pixels wide/high).

Although it is starting to become more recognised in areas it doesn't seem widely implemented. I feel strongly that good website design is so much more, and ironically, the best people to bring this out are often the software engineers, not the graphic designers.

How does the human interact with the screen and input devices. HCI (Human computer interaction) or MMI (man-machine interface) is a complex area of work, something that software and systems engineers develop understandings for and is something large software organisations recognise.

I feel it's the combination of this user interface design, alongside great graphic design that makes powerful websites. I don't think it's something that 'web design' courses really deliver on and it's a case of graphic designers working alongside their software development (usability) experts to create something that works for the user and looks great too.

I suspect it might be an area that needs two mindsets - can someone be a creative designer type as well as being a systematic, logical usability expert. Perhaps it will always be a case of two heads are better than one.