3rd Generation vs PostModern Design

It is always interesting to me when people define themselves as being a "new generation" of design or technology...I've been a professional writer for some time, in a number of media. I've written for magazines, books, multimedia (CD) presentations, and the Web.

For me, the biggest challenge in coming to Web design was in giving up my old notions of control. For me, the Web was "post modern"--a world in which no one voice imposed its preconceptions on others. For the first time, truly, technology did not get in the way of communication. We could speak in a whisper, and be heard around the world.

It's a challenge to write for a post-modern medium. When we realize that our ideas are going to be instantly available to a physician in China, an ecologist in Kenya, a programmer in the Netherlands, a reporter in Argentina, and an artist n the United States, and that we must speak to all of them, equally, we face a whole new concept in "presentation." When we stop making assumptions about what other people want, and start working on providing value for anyone who wanders by, the whole character of what we write changes.

One of my challenges in writing training materials was simply that old eyes see differently from young eyes. While for many people under 30, clashing colors like red on green or yellow on blue are attractive and attention-getting, for those over 40, the same colors can be unreadable. I had discovered this a number of years ago when the target audiences for educational materials began to change. I could no longer assume that I knew the probable age of my readers; I could no longer assume that I knew their probable socioeconomic levels. Education and information were beginning to move out, down, and across every previously-constructed barrier, and a lot of my old "tricks" no longer worked. Just as the working members of this organization, all 17,000 of them, may range from 15 to 80, my print and multimedia readers, too, had become a unpredictable kaleidoscope of people, instead of a class of fairly similar 20 year olds.

Then, came the Web. A whole new kind of freedom: I didn't have to worry about designing a page for "young eyes" or "old eyes"--or even blind readers. I didn't have to worry about keeping a reader awake through the first three chapters, when all they wanted was a citation from chapter four. My readers had control: over colors, over navigation, over sight and sound and even structure.

It was a little frightening to me, at first, this post modern world of communication. I wanted to hold on to that power I had had in print media: to say this is 8 point, and this is where the line break goes, and this is the graphic that explains it all: it was very difficult to learn to let go of that, and let my ideas, rather than my sense of whitespace, dominate a page.

But when I did learn: the real communication started to happen. I got letters, from readers in Thailand, readers in Scotland, readers with ideas and suggestions and questions...More than any book I ever wrote, or any magazine article, or any talk I ever gave, the Web opened up two-way communication, and I truly learned as much as I taught.

In the old style media, where typography rules, every article was a road show: flash, dazzle, entertainment. Technology was constantly getting in the way: who had the best monitor, the best speakers, who would hear me, and who wouldn't? I presented and the readers read. Or turned the page...

In post modern design, we've gone from road show to dialogue. I speak, they listen; they speak back and I listen. I'm not an entertainer, hoping they'll pick up one or two content pieces: I really am a writer again. The technology carries my words and ideas to places I've never even imagined: and, in return, words and ideas come back to me.

It's almost funny, to see those who would like to push those old-style forced-presentation techniques back onto the Web (if, of course, you have enough money for the technology that will be required to view them) defining themselves as a "new generation." They've missed the real power of this medium: the power to let go. They want to go right back into the lecture and entertainment business. There is a place for that, of course, but it's giving up so much: and it is a step backwards, into the one-way channels when we hoped our messages got through, and yet we knew we missed a lot of people...

The Web is not a magazine. It's not TV. It's something altogether new. And while we may find our comfort levels as authors challenged by that, as authors we can also find a whole new power in this strange new world, if we learn to accept these new abilities.

Oh, the new technologies are fun, and I use them, when I know who my readers will be, and what systems they'll have. I like pretty sites and interesting audio and fun places to visit--when I have the time.

But as a reader, I love hypertext, and quick-loading sites, and lots of information, and writers who respect me and my differences.

As a writer, I pay attention to surveys like the ones from GVU on what readers really want (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/), and I listen. Then, I put away my ego, and I unplug the instruments, and I build a site that everyone can visit, and I invite the whole world in. And I marvel at a technology that lets me do that, and then steps back into the shadows, and leaves the ideas on center stage.

It's a post-modern world, and I'm not quite ready for it--but I'm certainly not ready to go back, either.

So: enjoy your "killer site" design. Argue over Netscape vs Microsoft. Study ActiveX. Keep learning. Buy all the new tools that you can afford. But every once in awhile, take a deep breath, turn off the engines, and ride the currents with us into the real future. Post-modern design can bring us closer than we've every been before. Try it. Write to a standard. Publish content. Relax a little about commas and whitespace and jiggle .gifs. Just talk--and listen.

You may be surprised to find out how far whispers carry in the dark.

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