October 1998: Sabrina Pierson

---

October 5, 1998

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

"Usability, usability, usability!"

Sabrina Pierson is creative director at Bowne Internet Solutions (formerly Sitewerks). Following two years of college-level advertising design classes while still in high school, Sabrina graduated from The Art Institute of Seattle (AIS) with an Associate of Applied Arts degree in visual communication. Using training that had focused on print design and advertising, Sabrina landed a few small print and environmental design jobs while in school, but her primary background is in multimedia and design for the Internet. "Web design was the natural path from multimedia and interactive design," Sabrina told Site Builder Network (SBN). Her first job out of school was a lead design position at a CD-ROM publishing company, Multicom. When that industry's demand started to decline, she set out on her own as a free-lance designer, working on educational software, multimedia props for film, and sites for the Internet. "My experience in multimedia made for an easy transition into Web design," she said.

Career highlights? "That's a difficult question," Sabrina said, "because it's all been exciting! Every job is different and you get to learn about all kinds of industries and people when you're designing for them. I'd have to say the biggest highlight so far was going to the movie Assassins and seeing my work up there with Banderas and Stallone." Sabrina designed the animations for the user interface that was used in the movie when characters communicated through e-mail. "That was amazing," she said. "Even though I'd finished the work several months before, it became real to me only when I actually saw it in the movie theatre."

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

Sabrina Pierson: When I was a kid, I absolutely despised computers. I wouldn't have anything to do with them. But I loved to draw, and quickly determined I would be an artist no matter what. My father would tease me about starving artists, so when I learned that art directors in ad agencies made an appalling amount of money, I knew that commercial art was the perfect field for me. While I was studying at AIS, my grandfather bought me a Macintosh -- and after overcoming my fear of breaking the thing, I turned it on and discovered what a great tool it was! After inking all that type by hand, I was in designer's heaven. Demand for multimedia design was high, so I focused on my digital portfolio.

SBN: How do you approach new design assignments?

Sabrina Pierson: I try to approach every project from the end-user point of view. The client usually has a good idea of who their customers are, and I find out as much as possible from related or competitor sites and marketing materials. I imagine myself as the customer, and think of how I'd like to proceed through the site to find various information. I think about what a customer expects to see and then how they might be happily surprised -- both visually and in ease of use.

SBN: Where do you find inspiration?

Sabrina Pierson: One of my favorite places of inspiration is in a mall. I don't just love to shop, but just about everything you see is well designed. From the logos, the displays, the directories, to the products themselves. Grocery stores are just as cool. I can spend hours wandering the aisles and looking at packaging. Personally, I purchase for the package design more than what's in it. Inspiration can be found anywhere, because design is everywhere. If you're stuck in the office and need an escape, just browse a trade magazine -- a pirate's plunder of design bound together in that handy 8 by 11 format.

SBN: And the biggest aid to your creativity?

Sabrina Pierson: My dogs. Whenever I feel completely out of ideas, a good hard play with my puppies usually cures me. I think it's just a way of clearing my mind. Focusing on something other than design usually opens the door for fresh ideas. The best design solutions usually hit me at times when I'm not consciously looking for them.

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

Sabrina Pierson: I believe design should enhance a site's performance, not make it cumbersome. Unless the user is looking for a particular image, they don't want to wait for long periods while graphics are downloading. Scrolling is another issue. Whenever possible, it's a good idea to make sure all-important information and navigation elements are visible without having to scroll. People tend to click on the first thing they see that might get them to the information they're looking for.

SBN: Do you see an up side to cross-browser compatibility issues?

Sabrina Pierson: Not unless you live for a good challenge. Cross-browser compatibility is a huge thorn in the side of Web designers. You May be able to do just what you want in one browser, but view the page in another and it May not work at all. Not only do you have to think of the different brands of browsers, but the different versions as well. Then there are the people who still have monitors that only run in black and white. It's impossible to predict how your design will be viewed. You can only design for what you think the target market has on their desktop, and hope that the statistics are correct. Our quality assurance department also builds their test plans around the client's criteria and applies standards to ensure that the images and content are browser safe.

SBN: What, for you, is the key to great Web design?

Sabrina Pierson: Usability, usability, usability! No matter how beautiful a Web site looks, if a person doesn't understand how to access the information they're looking for, or perform the task they've set out to accomplish, the design is worthless. Keep it very simple and use small graphics, especially on content pages. And definitely test your designs for usability both during and after the design process. Bowne Internet Solutions has a quality assurance department and usability specialists. When a client is happy with the design direction, we do a mock-up prototype and put it through testing. Then the usability people will come back and let me know what parts aren't clear or whatever the problems are so I can fix it.

SBN: Tell about your favorite Web design tool and how you use it.

Sabrina Pierson: My favorite Web design tool has to be Macromedia's Flash. It allows you to create with animation, sound, and CD-ROM like interactivity -- elements fairly new to the Internet. I've used Flash for Web animation and designing personal sites for fun. We use Dynamic HTML a lot. I don't actually program, but I do work with it. We don't get to use it as much as we'd like to, but we love it.

SBN: What are some of the exciting technical innovations you're seeing, and what do they say about the future of the Web?

Sabrina Pierson: Things are going to get faster, and that will remove some of the user frustration with download times and will allow designers to do more of what they'd like to do, like in print. We'll be able to use gigantic graphics. You can have more of a magazine-style Web site. You can now, but it's frustrating for users.

SBN: Do you see sub-categories emerging within the field of Web design?

Sabrina Pierson: Already I'm seeing information architecture, usability, UI design, HTML development, and database engineering becoming separate entities in the workplace. People specializing in these categories are becoming more attractive to employers than the jack of all trades.

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

Sabrina Pierson: First, I'd learn the basics of design. Design is the more difficult aspect to learn. The technology behind Web design is fairly simple. And if, for some reason, all computers were to crash in the year 2000, I'd still have that skill to fall back on. If I were already working in a non-related field, I'd probably take night courses in design at a community college. I'd definitely have my own computer and spend lots of time surfing the Web and analyzing the sites I visit. I'd even re-design a few on my own to strengthen my skills. I'd take any pro-bono work I could handle for the value of experience and a live portfolio. The next step is to look for either an internship or a design position in an established Web firm.

SBN: What's the most important advice you could give new designers about creating Web sites that people will come back to again and again?

Sabrina Pierson: First, make sure it's not frustrating to use the site. Then, make it clear that the site is updated, changing, and growing. One way to do that is to have frequently changing feature graphics, so it's obvious there's new information or new downloads available on the site.

SBN: What are some questions that a Web designer should be prepared to answer from a potential client?

Sabrina Pierson: Their questions vary. Some people wonder how their branding is going to come across on a Web site. The most common question I get is, "Why is the logo so small?" They want it to be huge. Some people even ask for it to fill the entire screen. I explain that that will push their content to the bottom, and that scrolling is not really a good thing because people might not see their content then, and they might not know to scroll to it. They usually have an idea of what they want, and we ask most of the questions, such as what marketing materials do they have and what do they want to represent their company.

SBN: Describe a typical workday.

Sabrina Pierson: There is no typical workday for me. That's a big part of what makes this job so interesting. Sometimes I'll be running from one meeting to the next, sometimes working on a design or creative brief or helping with estimates for a proposal. My workday can range from 2 to 17 hours, depending on the deadlines. My tasks range from interviewing, art directing, and preparing performance reviews to UI design and information architecture. Once in a while, I'll design a corporate brand or a Flash animation. It's wacky and unpredictable, and I love it.

Michael Moore/Microsoft Corporate Photographer