Where did all the good websites go?
"Where did all the good websites go?" That question was put to me.
After working with a long-term coaching client for over a year, we had a massive breakthrough last night.
Our groundwork to date has been about mindset, about overcoming some challenging personal trials, and getting him facing the right way with his values and passions at the heart of his practice. This takes time, but now, with the foundations set, he's taken a huge step forward in telling his story.
It feels better than any of my own successes.
As he revealed a beautiful first draft, I struggled to contain myself. It was alive, it had a set of bollocks, and it screamed everything I've come to love about him through our work together. Unapologetic in its arrangement, its daring scale and shattering of template style open goals.
As I gushed all this onto him. He laughed and began wondering where all the good websites were, which triggered a chat about early internet creativity. Those Flash sites that welcomed you in blew your mind a little bit. The bad ones and the good ones were curated by humans, and no matter how flawed, insane, or playful, the curiosity flooded out of them like a thousand pop-ups.
Of course, clarity, UX, and all that stuff matter. As visual communicators, we know this. But surely we have to push it to some limits, break some rules somewhere, to inject some attitude, some personal experience, and point of view? Things have become so instant and so guided, which helps in some ways, but it removes the jeopardy, boxes us into replicable layouts, and achingly dull, clean websites.
Don't get me wrong, I used Squarespace for The Creative Condition's official site. I'm no developer, and my budget didn't stretch to full blank canvas customisation with my web developer. But it didn't stop me from telling the story in every corner of the site, with my own hand-rendered textures, and an unapologetic tone of voice, which permeates everything I make.
Because it's mine.
What's yours?
Anyway, my client was right. It seems odd that the ambition and imagination that characterised those early websites have not risen with the capabilities of the latest tech.
That makes me slightly sad.
But all is not lost. He's taken everything we've worked on in his life this past year, his self-discovery journey, and found a way to choose the right tech to serve his ideas, his soul, and you all have a real treat coming soon.