“Can quality content & great design coincide ?”

Great Design has always been an integral aspect within the grand scheme of our lives ; whether this involves Architectural , Landscape , Interior , Garden , Fashion [ and now , since the emergence of the world wide web ] : we are now consumed with Web Design . During the last 2 decades ( not to say more ) , the sector of Graphic Design and Web Development as far as career sectors go , has skyrocketed to new heights .

There are a multitude of Art & Design existing private & public sectors , and new ones evolving at the speed of light eagerly awaiting to herald in the new batch of Graphic Design students & Web Designers of tomorrow . The high demand of visually stunning websites has increased within the past decade as more and more users as well as companies are all competing for ‘ traffic ‘ to their sites .

Albeit the graphic or visual element of many sites may be highly creative in caliber from an artistic standpoint , so called ” Literary Types ” who are looking for ” Quality Content ” , may find such ‘ beautifully artistic ‘ websites lacking in so called ” Quality Content “. Therefore , the question and the dilemma now arises within every conscientious Blogger : Design vs. Content or…vice versa

Many literary types prefer sites with not too much going on [ as far as Graphic Content is concerned ] , and prefer simple minimalistic Websites featuring literary content and are not ‘ overdosed ‘ with too much activity , such as graphic images , music and so on . There are even those [ literary users ] who will exit a website even if the posts display ‘ thumbnail images ‘ ! ( yes I have seen comments on user pages confessing as much ) . It seems as if the bloggersphere is gradually being divided into two separate sectors suddenly : Literary Geeks & Web Design Geeks .

Somehow , Literary types are under the misconception that ‘ Quality Content ‘ cannot co-exist within ‘ Creative Content ‘ , that it somehow ‘ takes away ‘ from the so called ‘ Written Word ‘ itself and dilutes it . I have been having this debate with certain users belonging to both sides of the web spectrum lately , and I have been weighing the positive & the negative aspects of the debate . Personally , my opinion borders on the ” Middle Path ” ( and those familiar w/ the Buddhist approach can immediately identify with my standpoint ) . Therefore , I will now say unto the ‘ Literary Types ‘ out there who hold to the conviction that : Quality Content cannot co-exist or be present within Creative Content , that they are to an extent , ‘ biased and apprehensive within accepting that Creative Content can possess and encompass ” Quality Written Content ” as well as great design .

There are a multitude of artistic & creative sites which have been able to integrate both quality literary content along with creative content . The success of any site resides in the user creating not only a visually captivating site by which to lure or draw the visitor to it via it’s graphics or flash generated media , but moreover : through the intended literary content which one wishes to convey . Whether the sole purpose of such a site is to feature visual graphics or social media icons – then WRITE a brief statement [ one paragraph ] detailing that featured icon and or images. Don’t just post a few images with a download link – not if your intent is to attract a visitor and keep them ( not only ) on your site , but moreover : returning !

If all one wishes to relay are ‘ stunning visual graphics ‘ and no written content , then it simply becomes a type of ‘ gallery of images ‘ ( which doesnt require much effort , aside from cropping & resizing those images ) ; but again , if one wishes to draw so called ‘ traffic ‘ to one’s site , then the consideration to be had here is that : there are two types of users as stated in the beginning , and one must bear in mind that : you do not put up a site / blog simply to satisfy your own personal need for stunning visual graphics nor written content . ” No man is an island unto himself “.

We must all bear in mind that we are not only writing nor creating solely to feed our own need & desire , we are in essence all attempting to convey something of ourselves to a wider audience – we are trying to reach and connect with the masses out there in this cybersphere , and to pass along our ‘ content ‘ , whether this content is of an artistic or textual nature – the same rule applies to both sides of the web spectrum : You are not an island and certainly not living in your own Private Idaho any longer . You , I , everyone inhabiting this infrastructure termed the www.com are all attempting to market and sell something ; Ourselves .

Therefore , this ‘ something ‘ which we are all trying to put out there must bear and posses an element of ‘ quality & substance ‘ , or it simply becomes lost in the great void of cyberspace . Although I do encourage one to write and create from their need to extol what is in their heart and relay it unto the masses – I also advise to : consider your visitor / user’s needs as well . As stated earlier: there is not only one particular type of user who will stumble or happen to encounter your blog / site – there are basically two types of users , and if one is to continue running and maintaining their blog / site , they must consider both these type of users and be prepared to cater to both, if one’s sole intent and purpose is to generate high ranking traffic . In other words : If you’re going to feature graphics – then try to sell those graphics by creating a short descriptive storyline behind them . Sell your product to the ‘ masses ‘ , not solely to one particular individual .

Matt Mullenweg on WordPress

In conclusion , I do believe that quality literary and creative content can exist on the same blog / site – it simply depends on the user and how well they can manage to combine the two subject matters . One doesnt have to write a thesis on social media icons ( if that’s what you want to put out there ) ; they simply have to be able to reach out and attract all type of users : the Literary as well as the Creative .

Can Design and Content be combined intelligently and in good taste to satisfy both type of users?
Yes , it most certainly can ! Now, go write your content and feature those graphics !