After a ridiculously extensive amount of time, mikull.com has completely relaunched. I’ve been working under the covers since the summer of 2006 to launch something new; and after 2 other rather complete redesigns left unpublished, I’ve settled on our new look & feel.

This is not to say I reinvented the wheel with this blog and our message board- time was always lacking, life never slowing down- you all know the story. All I wanted to make was something I could be happy with in the morning. I’m an overly critical web developer, which coupled with said lack of time, equaled months of promised redesigns without a publish.

And yet, here we are at long last. So, black and white, blue all over: here’s a brief of what’s been done and why, and what’s still on the way.

At the beginning of summer 2006, I decided I wanted to improve the overall design of the site. I had mixed reactions from readers on my last redesign: a huge departure on the types of work I was producing since the mikull brand launch in early 2003. I was inspired to rock out- and what a better time than the summer to do it? Well, yeah- summer became autumn, became winter… but to be fair, I went through the entire process three times, sidetracked by little code projects and side-work. The day job didn’t help either. The real problem, however, was two-fold. Time is one thing, but I find myself constantly wrestling the psychology of design.

The left-to-right and top-to-bottom real estate that fills the browser window on a computer monitor is a delicate and treacherous space. While this idea rings true in a host of contexts, it is especially true for web designers and the individuals and companies that hire them. I treat myself like a client when I work on my own page, and try use the process as an exercise of self-refinement. It’s what I do, and constantly feel the need to improve myself.

The task of designing a web page and/or website to work properly for the client’s aims, the client’s purpose, the client’s identity, and especially for the user’s benefit and preference is one filled with opportunities for success and grave missteps. Given the tasks that a website must accomplish, web page design is a job for none less than an artist-psychologist.

Okay, that may sound like banana sandwich topped with nuts, but the job of designing a website is an exercise in promoting a brand or idea in an appealing manner while also eliciting specific human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Seriously. The designer must know how to accomplish these aims within a host of constraints, including those presented by the medium, the physical space, the client’s specifics, the relevant social environment, and the content and purpose of the site. In some cases this job is like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. In others, it is like pulling an elephant out of a thimble. I’m always on an elephant hunt, believe you me.

Just as there are ways that a composer can communicate sadness or anger in music, just as a painter can communicate confusion on the canvas, just as a an actor can communicate love or adoration without speaking, the web designer can communicate on the web page with layout, form, color and theme.

Easy enough, but the gorilla in my room throws paper airplanes at me every time I open Dreamweaver. I picked up a few, and they had love notes: Page purpose. Whitespace. Breathing room and context. Eye flow on the page. Logos and branding. mikull.com may not excel at these ideas, but one of the key purposes of this site is allow myself to grow. So long as I spend time thinking about these ideas, the design process creates valuable rewards for my self-development. I’ve chosen this field out of some sort of love; but I am well aware that mastering the ideas, even if not successfully realized in application, will keep me loving it.

Designing for the Web, as I see it, is a multi–layered process. It’s a process in which each layer addresses specific design needs related to client aims, brand characteristics and site user habits and expectations. Sadly, the last of these layers to be applied in the process, the application of style, is an oft–maligned element of design. Style for its own sake or by itself is not design, certainly, but stylistic concerns are important to successful design. Rest assured, it’s one thing to say and share this- but it’s even harder to be honest with yourself- to really make it a part of your own personal process. I’m now fully sold on the idea that ego has no place in a designer’s subjective perception.

I’m looking forward to developing more: I made quite a few compromises with myself by launching now, as there’s several more features and design elements I’m looking to incorporate. It’s an indefinite process without time-line, but there is an objective. When I started making those horrible web-pages in 1995, the goal was communication with the people I cared about.

Over 10 years later, that has not changed. If anything, the ‘Web 2.0′ movement has only reinforced what mikull.com was always about- communication and sharing with the people I care about, and the people who care to come and join in. Welcome back again my friends.

You can track all the mikull.com developments this year on the message board.

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Filed under: Design, Web Development