One of your classmates just sent me the link to her blog: From what I could gather from her mindmap she is thinking about designing a site on all the things that inspire her in life. Fair enough, I guess... But then in her very next post she is talking about a specific thing which inspires her - fireworks!
So, here is the thing: If you don't know her at all (which, obviously most of her readers will not), what would you rather read about? Fireworks in particular, or a medley of all the things which inspire her? My choice would be fireworks. A fascinating subject where she can go in-depth - and that is what makes the big difference here:
As she is building the site she will also be learning - which is at least half the fun when creating a website. There is a whole history there for one thing. Local customs which I am sure must have developed around fireworks all around the world, fairy tales and myths which they have probably brought about. There would have to be writers and artists and musicians who featured them in their work. Not to even mention the whole technological aspect. Huge big industry, after all. Must some active technologically there.
So, she has a subject there which would allow her to develop a specialized site, which people who have a specific interest in this subject would bookmark and put on their RSS feeds in a nano-second. She would get re-blogged by them and even more people would come to read and see what she has to say. It is a subject which she can take as far as she wishes, there is certainly enough material there for that. It will also involve doing research and rooting out information online, all the good stuff which I think of as good web design to begin with: In other words, she will be able to focus.
"Fireworks at Swindon", courtesy of Stephen Gunby
As she is building the site she will also be learning - which is at least half the fun when creating a website. There is a whole history there for one thing. Local customs which I am sure must have developed around fireworks all around the world, fairy tales and myths which they have probably brought about. There would have to be writers and artists and musicians who featured them in their work. Not to even mention the whole technological aspect. Huge big industry, after all. Must some active technologically there.
So, she has a subject there which would allow her to develop a specialized site, which people who have a specific interest in this subject would bookmark and put on their RSS feeds in a nano-second. She would get re-blogged by them and even more people would come to read and see what she has to say. It is a subject which she can take as far as she wishes, there is certainly enough material there for that. It will also involve doing research and rooting out information online, all the good stuff which I think of as good web design to begin with: In other words, she will be able to focus.
And the importance of focus in terms of design is that if you have a focused subject - such as fireworks - then you also have a great opportunity to focus your visual elements. Good design is about visual continuity. It is about creating a visual language where every component of your structure goes with everything else. Focused content will bring this about almost naturally. Images of fireworks, videos of fireworks, background and typography which complements them...
So, in many ways (if not in fact all-ways!), content = design. Brings about design...
YAYYY! Fireworks! Go go go!
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