On awards
At Pemaquid, we’ve never won any awards for our Web design (we have come close) and we don’t care if we never do.
Often, the criteria for winning a design award and the criteria for making something useful are completely different.
Donald A. Norman, of the Nielsen-Norman group, in his book The Design of Everyday Things illustrates this point wonderfully in telling how two office buildings were designed:
There really were two designs: one in Seattle, with heavy participation by the users, and one in Los Angeles, designed in the conventional manner by architects. Which design do the users prefer? Why the Seattle one, of course. Which one got the award? Why the Los Angeles one, of course.
Aesthetics are important, for sure. But in designing Web sites for our Clients, we’ll pick useful over award-winning every time.
