12 August 2009

In April I had written against a reasoning that good web design should include signs of its being an “interactive” medium, particularly opposing the necessity of using alternate link hover-states. I took issue with the term “interactive,” saying it is a stupid and misused terminology as sanctioned exclusively for The Web.

Design Observer, publisher of fine essays on design, recently presented us with an all new design for their website, and I was delighted to see this giant among us publish a new website without any moving parts or flashy graphics. There are no alternate hover-states. There are no animated graphics. Nothing moves. It’s comparable to reading a printed page. It’s flat, static, and interactive. Despite “nothing happening” on the screen, I’m enticed to look around, see what’s new, find things I haven’t seen before. In other words, I’m encouraged to interact with it. All this achieved without any whiz-bang computer-exclusive design effects. Good, old fashioned, effective graphic design.