17/08/04
41Redesigning is hard to do
Since November, I’ve been attempting to refresh the design of this site, particularly the journal section, but each time I keep coming back to the same design.
Each of my redesign attempts has resulted in just a little tweak here, or image added there – nothing on the scale I was intending. The leaf illustration on the left is one such result of the one of these attempts.
Looking at sites like JustwatchtheSky, Jason Santa Maria and Airbag with their attention to detail and originality makes me lust after some of what they’ve got. They’ve thought their sites through, and it shows in the execution.
Why bother redesigning? Redesigning is the new staying in, its where its at. Its two turntables and a microphone. Dave Shea(twice), Doug Bowman, Ryan Sims, Ethan Marcotte, Adam Polselli, Zeldman and Nathan Borror have all unleashed excellent redesigns so far this year. Doug Bowman even released a ‘limbo’ redesign, a plain white minimal space inbetween designs. In a strange sort of reversal-of-the-universe, Scrivs has conversely kept the same design for at least a couple of months!
Seriously though, its nothing to do with any of that. As a designer, I like to keep things fresh. When I look at sites I’ve designed for clients, after a while I wish that I could improve this, redo that, introduce X feature. I can’t, but I can do that to my own site! You just feel the urge to change sometimes. I also look at my site a lot (usually when responding to comments) and I get a bit sick of the sight of it. Problem is, no new design I do looks good enough!
A few weeks ago I announced I had a new design almost ready to go. Then after taking advice from Leigh and a mysterious one-eyed sock monkey, I dumped it. There were many things wrong with it, but basically it came down to this. Why replace a design with something not so good, just for the sake of keeping things fresh? I still like what I’ve got here, whereas all my new ideas just looked like a copy of someone else’s site.
So this is the plan. There’ll be no radical change at hicksdesign, I’m going for a Simplebits approach now. Keep the general look and layout, but freshen it up. Not reinventing the wheel, but polishing it certainly. A print css file here, new images there.
Thats all I’m going to say on the matter. I don’t want this to become a blog about a blog!
Tags: design, hicksdesign, updates
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Jason Santa Maria said 1571 days ago:
Here here! Your design still works. Period.If you feel the redesign bug biting, try little tweaks like you said, maybe a new color palette or something.
If you feel the redesign bug chomping and are still unhappy with what you’ve come up with, hold a contest to redesign your site. Oooo… and pick a new design to skin with every month! HicksZenGarden!
hmmm… eh, what do I know.
Mike D. said 1570 days ago:
Okay, number one, if you get rid of the fucking leaves on the left, I’m outta here. I live for those leaves. When I wake up in the morning, since I don’t have leaves outside my own window, I walk over to my computer, punch up hicksdesign and smell my computer screen.Number two, why do you think design firms hire other design firms to do their business cards? Because we’re too damned fussy to actually like our own stuff.
Jason Santa Maria said 1570 days ago:
To point, I would throw my hat in the ring for a chance to redesign someone’s site :DOr we could just draw names out of a hat and redesign someone’s site for a month. What a fun project!
Shut-up Jason.
Eris said 1570 days ago:
It is a fun project, Jason. A few designers and myself used to do it all the time. We created a lot of projects like that just to keep our creativity on it’s toes.As for the main point, I hear ya. I’m in the middle of a redesign myself and it has definitely become more of an exercise in the philosophical than anything. It’s never going to be about keeping things fresh. It’s not about other people or other styles. Or wheel-reinvention (okay, the phrase, it is dead now, people need to stop saying it). It’s about me (or you) and how I (or you) can be better than before.
Any redesign I’ve ever embarked upon has been a test, practice and realization of the self. And, any truly good design I’ve ever seen was rooted in the same.
Scrivs said 1570 days ago:
Well the good thing about working on 50 other sites is that you don’t give yourself enough time to redesign your own site.As designers (at least you people :-) we have to look at our sites everyday and the urge to redesign them is natural. However, once you have created a wonderful design it is almost painful to try and “top it”.
It’s a deadly cycle. Even though I have plans for a redesign I kind of hold myself back because I know my site just works. Minor tweaks will happen of course, but a major overhaul is definitely not needed. It’s just that these are our playgrounds and what is the fun if we can knock down the sandcastle and build another?
Hans said 1570 days ago:
Hmmm… I thank you for not settling on a total redesign. Hicksdesign was one of the first “designer blogs” I knew of, and yet is almost the only one that hasn’t redesigned. What this site looks like right now is what I think of if someone says “hicks.”Changing a few things here and there is fine with me… “Fresh” is key. Just don’t get rid of the vines. I like the vines.
Laura said 1570 days ago:
Jon, I’m sure you’ve heard this way too often for it to hit home anymore, but the look and feel of your site is so pleasing – the colors (mmm… grass green), layout, pix – all coincide to produce a… well um, simply pleasant experience. And that’s no small feat. Hear, hear!I too have keenly felt the angst of the to-redesign-or-not-to-redesign dilemma. Many a time I’ve said to myself, “You sorry excuse for a designer – can’t you come up with anything??? People PAY you to do this for them, for pete’s sake.” The cool thing about all this is, tho, that everyone has this gunk slosh thru their minds – that knowledge, at least, makes it easier for me to press on.
So many designers I bump shoulders with have the hardest time designing for themselves – I think it has something to do with having SO many options – you can go in any direction you want, no holds barred, and that (for me) this is overwhelmingly paralyzing sometimes.
So I think these ideas about other designers skinning your site are brilliant. We don’t design in a vacuum, people! And what better way to get some new ideas than from your supportive designey friends? (Even if it does mean giving up on the idea of being the ever-creative, mistake-free super designer)
Joen said 1570 days ago:
While certainly not an a-list blogger such as yourself, I’ve still thought exactly the same thoughts. Why replace a functional design with something lesser, just for the sake of freshness? With this in mind, I have still scrapped two redesigns, because that urge is hard to resist.It is possible to redesign, without the use of drop shadows and a horde of colors. The new Coudal Partners shows this.
Yet, improving on what you’ve got, I think, is harder than starting over—a prime example is the recent Kottke redesign . It certainly shows how building on something prior can result in something better.
In my case, I will force myself to postpone any redesign until I have improved my markup, structure, usability and “flow”. I’m so happy not to be alone.
Drew McLellan said 1570 days ago:
All together now... (it’s a sing-along!)Don’t take your leeeeaves away from me
That would leave this place in misery
Not all sites should be Mezzoblue
Coz redesigning’s hard to do
:-)
Kev Mears said 1570 days ago:
I think that the redesigning process is a kind of taking stock of what one likes, what works (or doesn’t) and what you’d like to be better.Unfortunately, all of the above are moving targets because our preferences, skills and desire are always changing.
I would guess also that bloggers with busy sites like yourself feel a little pressure to perform with such a large following.
For what it’s worth I really like the design as is, but would probably like whatever new one you came up with.
I’m just off to pick the splinters outta my butt, from this fence-sitting.
Thomas Scholz said 1570 days ago:
Jon, you don’t need to redesign. We do it for you. Excerpt from my user stylesheet (you’ll hate it):@/* hicksdesign.co.uk
—————————————————————————- */
body#journal div#horizon * {
font:16px/1.4 Georgia!important;
background:#eee!important;
color:#000!important;
}
body#journal div#horizon a:link {
background:#eee!important;
color:#009!important;
text-decoration:underline!important;
}
body#journal div#horizon a:visited {
background:#eee!important;
color:#900!important;
}
body#journal div#horizon .odd,
body#journal div#horizon .odd * {
background:#e0e0e0!important;
}
body#journal #wrapper,
body#journal div#horizon #content,
body#journal div#horizon #content #mainCol {
width:auto!important;
}@
I wish you had a css signature…
phnk said 1570 days ago:
Oh, Jason, while you’re at it, please tell us Hivelogic is coming back before the end of the week ;)Okay, that wasn’t really on-topic.
Martagnan said 1570 days ago:
Can you get Hicks any fresher? To me your site has timeless design qualities, it’ll look as fresh in 2 years as it does now (3 years would just be lazy though). Good decision to stick with it!Olly Hodgson said 1570 days ago:
Thank fsck for that. I see this design as right up there with all the others you mention. Its awesome. And don’t lose the leaves!Matt said 1570 days ago:
I think your design is lovely. Very eye-catching and unique. And it doesn’t hog bandwidth either. It’s great. If you are going to change it, make sure it’s for the right reason and with your whole heart. I don’t want to see a redesign for at least another month or so!Barry said 1570 days ago:
Leaves turn reddish brown in autumn… ;)Justin French said 1570 days ago:
Why fix something that isn’t broken? If you’ve got a real issues with something on the site, then sure, fix it, but it sounds like you just want change for change’s sake.Instead of a monumental redesign to “keep up with the Jones’”, why not just incrementally change a few things here and there – just redesign the navigation, or the headings, or the colours.
In other words, improve what you’d like to improve, rather than get bogged down in a complete overhaul. Chances are you’ll find things you don’t like about the redesigned site just like you did with this one.
quis said 1570 days ago:
I find it best to begin with the intention of making small tweaks, little changes here and there. That way I don’t feel committed to anything drastic, but it still leaves room for inspiration to strike. It also means I can take cues from my existing design when inspiration isn’t so plentiful.the wife said 1570 days ago:
guys, non-radical redesign#276 isn’t looking bad at all … a nice evolution … you never know, you might kind of like it!or maybe Jon’s changed his mind again…?
Scrivs said 1570 days ago:
I think everyone is missing the point of redesigning. Again this is his personal site and there are not too many places on the web where a designer has the freedom to explore new territory for himself.Jon has to look at this design everyday and I am sure he wants to try something new. All the responses here unfortunately are of the selfish nature. “I like it, so you can’t change.”
Take a screenshot, remember how this looks. Let the man experiment and have fun. We all know we can’t always do that with clients and now our audiences won’t even let us do it?
Scrivs said 1570 days ago:
But then again, you gotta go with whatever the wifey says. :-)Joel said 1570 days ago:
Mr Hicks, you are enlightened. I know how it is, wanting to redesign every now and again.Months ago, Dan Benjamin was in the same spot, and ended up with a miserable grey fog of garish boxy borders and tiny type.
Not to put Mr Benjamin down any (it is his website after all), but imho, it’s more productive to stick with an effective design and focus energy on good content. I’m glad you’re taking that path.
bq. Thats all I’m going to say on the matter. I don’t want this to become a blog about a blog!
AMEN, brother!
Jon Hicks said 1570 days ago:
Thats the thing though, this isn’t just my personal site, its my professional ‘face’ too. I have to be a bit more careful. But yeah, I agree with you on the reasons. I was being sarcastic about doing because everyone else did.The wifey is right though. #276 is probably a goer!
Joel – sorry blockquotes don’t seem to be working. I must figure out why.
For the record, I really like the previous Hivelogic design. Everyone seems to hate it, but I was definitely a fan!
as for the leaves - whoops...
Andrew Famiano said 1570 days ago:
If you got the time for a complete redesign go for it. Right now I think your design kicks ass.If your happy with your layout, then start tweeking. I agree with Jason. Add a new color palette, different fonts, etc.
Rafal Dyrda said 1570 days ago:
Barry has your solutionLeaves turn reddish brown in autumn… ;)
Would be neat if the color scheme would change with the change of seasons :)
Massimo said 1570 days ago:
Do not despair! I’ve been in the process for several months now, and it’s the same old story all over again: At least a dozen designs until you pick the most boring one because you cannot get yourself to do a design where you tell about the latest buzz in dingbat symbols and poetic pictures of rainbow-coloured dolphins. Blame content. (_)Anyway, take your time ‘cause your site is smashing, and thanks for sharing your ‘secrets’...
Josh said 1570 days ago:
If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.Peter Zignego said 1570 days ago:
I too, like the “Leaves turn reddish brown in autumn… ;)” Idea. Would make for an interesting color-scheme, yet keeping the same layout. Could be very…fresh:)Coudal said 1570 days ago:
Truman Capote, a compulsive reviser of his own work was asked once how he knew when he was finished with a book and he answered, “when my editor comes to my house and takes it away.”If your work isn’t constantly being improved it isn’t work anymore. Then it’s just a sample.
Samples are dead.
Ben Saunders said 1569 days ago:
Coudal hit the nail on the head (no surprise there) – a website is never finished, is it?Chris Neale said 1569 days ago:
Firefox + URIid would give you a site signature to attach styles to …URIid :: html id set to : www-hicksdesign-co-uk
URIid :: body classes set to : uriid-www-hicksdesign-co-uk uriid-hicksdesign-co-uk uriid-co-uk uriid-uk …
At least while bug 238099 is unfixed.
Tristan said 1569 days ago:
Sounds like a plan. You’ve got the look down, and the longer it stays the same the more it will be associated with you.And being ripped off has to instill some sort of pride. Maybe about 10% pride, 90% blech… At least you know it’s a distinctive design that people want to copy.
Barry said 1568 days ago:
In case you haven’t seen these beforehttp://refcards.com/download/deepx/CSS1.pdf
http://refcards.com/download/bj/css2.pdf
Hanni said 1568 days ago:
To me, // hickdesign is one of the freshest designs out there.Max Glenister said 1568 days ago:
“if it ain’t broke, why fix it”your site is damn good.
heh, its refreshing to see such a well designed site on the web, and from a design company based in Oxfordshire.. well, thats a tonne cooler.
i’ve lived in Oxfordshire for my whole life, and for the past year or two have been interested in web design/code, and more recently – 8 months or so – CSS, XHTML, and standards compliance.
it was nice looking through your site, and nice job on the firefox icon ;)
Maura said 1568 days ago:
Like everyone else, I may cry if the leaves go away.Jenna said 1568 days ago:
I’d surely miss your design if it went away.Rahul said 1566 days ago:
I think you should consider looking at the structure of your HTML. Part of the thing I do when redesigning is not so much changing the visual look, but looking at the challenge of improving the structural design while keeping the exact same visuals. I’m sure you’ve already gone over this countless times, but maybe there’s another way to put the page together other than with all your right hand menu content at the top? It’s a dodgy argument to get into, but you might design it one way one day and then go back later realising that absolutely everything you used to think was backwards.Bruce said 1566 days ago:
hooo! Just browsed on in (first time) and your design immediately struck a (pleasant) chord with me, so to speak. This design is wonderful. I will leave if the leaves leave :)Sorry, had to get that out of my system. ;)
Hans said 1565 days ago:
There’s something about green that means “fresh and new” in our subconsciousness. I’d never get tired at looking at this design/layout. Others such as SimpleBits, StopDesign, and Mezzoblue all have deep colors and a “techy” feel that burns into our brains. I’m surprised that more people aren’t using green very much; probably because they want their site to be “modern.”Oh, and to go along with all the leaf tomfoolery, I think you should change the header above to “leaf your comment.”
nick said 1564 days ago:
1st – to sound like a broken record, I LOVE your site design. it really is one that I look upon as timeless.2nd – an idea that I’ve had as I go through my own redesigns, is to create an archive of my site designs. I don’t throw the code away on my computer, why not leave it visible on my site? (not that I have any visitors who care about my design like we do about yours…oh wait, I don’t even HAVE visitors…;)
and with the wide adoption of standards based design/weblog-published content, archiving more recent designs would be [almost] as simple as linking to a different style sheet view. (so people could view your site in whatever design they desired, but still see the same, fresh content.)
This is something I’ve not gotten to yet (my design skills aren’t on the same planet as yours, and so I’m constantly playing with new things, and redoing what I’ve got), but I’ve got a desire to try this idea sometime sooner than later.
My request of you, is that whatever you do, you leave some way for viewers (long-time and otherwise) to see the current/old design at their own will.
would be interesting via site stats to see what design view people frequented more over time…
ok, i’ve rambled enough. good luck whatever you do – I’m sure we’ll like it (as long as it’s got the leaves…?)