| The Real Business of Web
Design
By John Waters
Allworth Press, New York, 2004, 256 pages.
Reviewed by Karl D. Speak
Read this book. If you are a younger designer, it will provide
you with an important perspective, adding context and meaning to
your interactive design work. For the seasoned marketing or design
professional, it reminds us of the role that the Web plays in the
overall marketing mix and reinforces our understanding of modern
marketing communications. The book is not a how-to, it’s much
more important than that for the interested reader who is willing
to sit down and consider the well-seasoned perspective of the author.
This book reads as a gestalt view of Web design. This broader view
not only spans the designer’s realm of Web design, but it
also puts the role of Web design into the wider perspective of marketing,
and ultimately as a business tool. This unique perspective can only
be delivered by a highly-experienced design professional like John
Waters, who has been a major player in the evolution of the modern
design profession. I first met John many years ago at a DMI Corporate
Identity Conference and we have kept in touch through the years.
John’s presentation on how he developed a new set of corporate
identity guidelines for The Wall Street Journal was the
most compelling presentation of its type I have ever experienced
as a long-standing member of DMI. The presentation added a unique
perspective to my understanding of corporate identity that still
serves me today. This book delivers the same kind of insights that
can inspire and broaden the perspective of a designer’s global
view of Web design.
This is not only a book about Web design, it’s a book about
the evolution of the culture of design management. In it you will
find a logical presentation of many of the business drivers and
concepts that have influenced the progression of design management
as we understand it today. All too often, articles and books on
the Web celebrate the brave new world of the future and appear to
ignore or almost sneer at the past. A strong, vibrant future requires
a solid understanding and perspective of how we got here. John encourages
a forward-thinking, global view of the way the Web is changing our
world. His perspective and insights are also grounded in how the
Web can add to designers’ opportunity to employ design management
as a business process that will help organizations achieve their
marketing goals.
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