June 1998: Joe Zandstra

---

June 12, 1998

The following article was originally published for the Site Builder Network Workshop (now MSDN Online Web Workshop.)

"I've always enjoyed involving people in the process; the Web is a medium that combines all these elements."

As design director at Online Magic, Ltd., over the past two and a half years, Joe Zandstra has been the force behind the designs for one of the largest Web development companies in the United Kingdom. Though he started out in painting, studying Fine Art and Community Arts Practice in Newcastle, England, Joe moved from canvas to computer while completing his university training. The reason for the switch? Joe found that he could "express far more when people were actively engaged" in what he was producing.

After university, Joe worked from December 1993 to November 1994 at Real Time Design (now Insite Environments), an architectural virtual reality firm, producing 3-D models and presentation pieces in Macromedia Director. "This was great discipline," Joe told SBN. "Working with architects and government officials, accuracy and good information design were essential." Deciding that he had more to offer the world of interactive design than architecture, Joe moved to a kiosk multimedia firm (Julia Schofield Consultants, in London), where he designed screens and interaction for a year before moving on to design for the Web. During this period, he saw that "the Web had the potential to take what we were doing with kiosks much further. I joined a small firm that would grow with the industry and share my vision, and managed the design department as we grew to be one the UK's largest Web agencies."

For some examples of Joe's work, point your browser to the Boots The Chemists site, which won the "Best Web Site 1997" award, and Channel 4 Television, which garnered "Best Entertainment Web Site 1997" Both sites also were honored by the New Media Age Effectiveness Awards. Joe says a more recent highlight was simply the volume of positive user feedback from the Uncle Ben's site. "It was great that people loved the design, but more gratifying was that people found it genuinely useful." Joe is currently working at Spiral Media as a Creative Director.

SBN: What do you think constitutes great Web design?

Joe Zandstra: Great Web design makes me feel welcome without saying "welcome to our site," and lets me know where to click without saying "click here." Great Web design comes from understanding the user and the content enough to design the experience that houses the information. A logo and a color scheme tell a user about a brand. Layout, copy, structure, and even download time are factors that can be used to let the user experience that brand.

SBN: If you were starting out to become a Web designer today, what would you do?

Joe Zandstra: First and foremost, I would gain a solid grounding in the basics -- palettes, image formats, simple HTML, design. There are more and more specialist Web design courses around, but in my opinion, some hours with a Web graphics book and plenty of design practice will prove far more valuable. The next step would be to find an internship; being equipped with the basic skills will mean the difference between doing real hands-on work and being sent to get the proposals bound. The key point to remember is that developing design skills should always come before learning the technology du jour - companies will employ designers for their design skills first. Design Web sites wherever possible. Community programs and volunteer organizations will often be glad of a site, and the client contact will be good experience.

SBN: When new assignments come along, how do you get started?

Joe Zandstra: I ask questions. I find out what the client wants and why. I take time to understand the client's business, their product or service as well as their customers. The next stage is to step back and look at the problem in new ways -- forget the obvious and find a fresh approach. The design begins with a flurry of paper work, creative briefs, mood boards, and really bad office coffee -- the discovery process proving its worth by fueling the odd flash of inspiration during a creative block.

SBN: And when blocks come along, where do you look for inspiration?

Joe Zandstra: Everywhere. TV, magazines, Web sites. I often find it useful to bug another designer who has nothing to do with my current project -- a five-minute PhotoShop session can work wonders. Finding inspiration for me is seldom a direct process; I'll search to no effect in the knowledge that I'll somehow distill all the material and only see the light when I've given up for the day and sought solace in the local bar.

SBN: How did you end up working in this field?

Joe Zandstra: Well, some of the components of a nascent Web design geek were there from an early age. I was always painting, and I would regularly take electronic equipment apart with the aim of making something far more useful and fun than the appliance I had just destroyed. As a teenager, theatrical lighting became my passion -- and at college, I studied art as it applied to the community. I've always been creative, and I've always enjoyed involving people in the process; the Web is a medium the combines all these elements.

SBN: What is your favorite Web design tool and how do you use it?

Joe Zandstra: Predictably enough, PhotoShop. I tend to do a lot of illustration work, and PhotoShop is the most versatile tool for the job. What is really great right now is that Adobe is beginning to cater for the digital design community with the startlingly PhotoShop-like 'Image-Ready' making the whole process of Web graphics production fairly seamless. There is another tool I have to mention - I don't use it as often as PhotoShop, but it's invaluable for photorealistic and hyper-real illustration: CorelXara, a drawing package with graduated transparency, anti-aliasing, and the most intuitive interface I've seen on a vector drawing application.

If Windows NT 4.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0 can be considered tools, then these tools make my work possible. I have to design for all platforms/browsers -- but for my own production environment, my current setup gives me a solid base, which integrates nicely with the diverse world in which I work.

SBN: How do you balance issues of design and site performance?

Joe Zandstra: As much as I'd like to think that all people want to do is gaze at my creations, the reality is that most users would rate speed way above prettiness. A quick page needn't be devoid of life, though. Small, well-placed images, table-cell colors, and creative layout can help. Good information design can be important in the perception of speed. The less a user has to click around, the better.

SBN: How does designing for the Web differ from other types of design?

Joe Zandstra: For a while, many have regarded Web design as a screen representation of print. Thankfully, this has changed as people have come to understand the medium. Design for the Web is not as stand-alone as other forms of design. A Web design has to work with the programming, scripting, and information structure, as well as the content and consumer.

SBN: Twenty years from now, what will be the biggest change in the way we use the Web?

Joe Zandstra: The Web as we know it most likely won't exist. I don't think that surfing the Web will be a distinct activity. Net-based applications will be a part of our daily lives -- part of our TV sets and our fridges -- "click here for more OJ." Designers are going to have to apply their skills to more and more diverse media.

SBN: If the Web becomes a distant memory, what should Web designers bring to the new technologies that emerge?

Joe Zandstra: Designing for the Web has been about satisfying so many varying criteria -- one day I design an online banking site, and the next I May be working on a site where the primary function is to reinforce a company's brand. I predict that these diverse applications will eventually justify their own delivery technologies. Right now, the desktop computer is the primary link to a network, but that doesn't mean that it is appropriate that all the content carried should land on a 15" monitor in the living room. Entertainment May work better when presented via the TV, recipes through a waterproof electronic book. When the Web-browser as singular communications medium has disappeared, two elements will always remain: the people and the network. It makes sense to take advantage of the relative homogeneity of the medium and spend time and effort understanding the constants behind our industry. Expend resources on focus groups, not the latest plug-in technology. HCI, not just DHTML.

Michael Moore/Microsoft Corporate Photographer