I am in charge of the creative side to World Wide Creative, dealing with web design mainly in South Africa. I’m a huge believer in great design in building credibility, and in turn, leading to a profitable site. I’m often stymied by the restrictions of budget, practicality and target market (and sometimes by the educated wisdom of my colleagues), but, the point is, I am passionate about the role of design in website success.
My basic philosophy on website design is two-fold:
- Function (easy navigation, clear message, clear goals)
- Form (relevant use of graphic elements, consistency with brand identity, liberal use of images, educated typography)
The Holy Grail is to balance these two in a seamless waltz, so inter-related that the one wouldnt survive without the other. This is not form following function, as my Danish forebears are so eager to pursue, but rather form marrying function. The one is equally as important as the other. In South African web design, as in the UK, there are so many folk who purport to be experts, run out and forge a company built on the back of some pretty unprofitable websites. This is a dangerous scourge on the population (I know, because way back when, we started this way!) and needs to be stopped.
A designer needs to understand marketing function in site building, in the same way that a marketing guy needs understand the role of great design in web / blog building.
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