I’ll be honest Jeff, the DesignInterviews.com site desperately disappoints me, and I’ll tell you why:
It promotes itself as a Forum - when it is in fact a simple blog, not a Forum at all.
Only a slightly re-worked stock Wordpress template seems to have been used for the site (this takes all of about 40 minutes to set-up and virtually no design effort at all).
The questions are really general and very basic.
….and I’ll be quick to point out that none of these ‘notable designers’ would share their views on my own site - one that has been designed from the ground-up without re-using a template, states that it is a blog rather than something it is not, and has article posts that ask far more interesting questions.
Hey, maybe I should down-grade my site to a template (designed by someone else)….buy a domain name with ‘interviews’ in the name…and then ask really general questions to (already well-known) Web Designers too?!
With minimal effort, and no sign of an original design being used - that site is probably going to do better than my own just because those designers have been interviewed there! It is like ‘Amateur Night for Web Designers interviews A-List, Professional Web Designers’. :(
I don’t want to be too negative though…I do think the site has quite a bit of potential if it did the following at least:
It just needs to stop calling itself a Forum (or actually offer one!)
It needs to have an individual and distinctive design all of its own
And the questions need to be a bit more interesting and challenging.
Matt, although I can see where you’re coming from, in general your comment here is unproductive.
A blog can be a forum when it has comments - it doesn’t have to be a discussion board, just a place where people can discuss something.
What in the world says a site has to be originally designed and can’t use a template, particularly if that site doesn’t claim to be a web design site. In this case we’re talking about an interview site. It’s snobbery to say it’s poorly designed in that sense. It would be more productive to come up with some real suggestions for how the site could work better if laid out or designed in some other way.
Instead of complaining, why not email the interviewers your own questions and ask them to include some in their next interview?
If you read the about page, they do say it is a blog, so that’s a moot point. And, as any good designer would know, “an individual and distinctive design all of its own” doesn’t in itself make for good design.
All in all, your comment seems to come from a place of bitterness because, as you said, “none of these ‘notable designers’ would share their views on my own site”, so I’d recommend people take them with that grain of salt.
However, I’m sure you have some valid points somewhere in there that could be better served by a private email to the people who run the site, with specific suggestions (instead of “better questions” offer questions of your own) on how to improve the site. Posting random complaints publicly on Jeff’s site doesn’t really help anyone.
Natalie: Hmm, bit late with your response aren’t you?!
“Posting random complaints publicly on Jeff’s site doesn’t really help anyone.”
True, but my comments were criticisms - not complaints. I’ve made some commentary - where invited and I’ve got as much right as anyone else to say what I think about the [site being discussed]. For your information: I have since e-mailed the site owner’s privately too.
“1. A blog can be a forum when it has comments - it doesn’t have to be a discussion board, just a place where people can discuss something.”
P’ah! It’s a blog only - face it!
“2. What in the world says a site has to be originally designed and can’t use a template….”
Nothing, nothing at all…and I never insisted it did, but….
“….particularly if that site doesn’t claim to be a web design site.”
Hello - it’s ‘about Web Designers’ (did you miss that part?!)….so…this is where my comment about an ‘original’ (perhaps more distinctive) design - reflective of the quality Web Designers being interviewed - is fair enough.
“It would be more productive to come up with some real suggestions for how the site could work better if laid out or designed in some other way.”
Sure, I could do that…but I think that would be very patronising to their abilities as Web Designers! With the great pool of Designers they are interviewing, I’m sure they’d ask one of them for advice about the site’s looks or design (if they felt it was necessary). My initial comment was quite general…but that’s what it is - a comment (not a full, detailed Web Site Assessment!)
“3. Instead of complaining, why not email the interviewers your own questions and ask them to include some in their next interview?”
I think I was a bit harsh with my remarks about their questions actually. Please note that my comment about Helen’s interview with Nick Finck (more recently) is far more in praise of their questions. Maybe the level of questioning varies per interview - but I’ll admit that my original remark was out of line.
The site is providing an intriguing set of interviews and I’ve complimented the site owners privately about that too. I’m glad Jeff encourages views (even open criticisms) on his site because then it encourages a more realistic sense of people’s opinions about things (yours and mine on this occasion at least). If I ever have complaints about a site Natalie - I’ll always address them to the site owner privately, of course…rather than post them on someone’s blog…(or Forum if you rather, hehe). Cheers for your feedback about my comments.
forum: an assembly, meeting place, television program, etc., for the discussion of questions of public interest.
Not only are there questions being discussed, but comments are enabled. I think you are assuming that forum means it must be a message board-style site. While it’s common for those sites to be called “forums”, it doesn’t mean that these aren’t the only sites that are allowed to be called that.
As for the questions asked, I actually don’t mind if the questions are a little general (though I know from first-hand experience that they do their homework, and craft their questions based on who they are asking). Allowing the questions to be open allows the designer to answer it in whatever way they want.
I do agree that the design could be nicer, but I have to agree with Natalie here. Matt, your comments weren’t really constructive.
All this aside, I liked this interview a lot. They’ve interviewed some really great people. Except that Jeff Croft guy…
[I wrote a good reply to your comment earlier, but I was in a hurry - I think I forgot to hit ‘post’ before leaving, shame!]
“While it’s common for those sites to be called “forums”, it doesn’t mean that these aren’t the only sites that are allowed to be called that.”
Of course the site can call itself whatever it likes - although the use of the word ‘forum’ (in the literal sense) is fine - and I’m not disputing that, it is just that it is not a forum-format or messageboard-style site but a blog-format site (which we all agree on!)…I’m just expressing my opinion that I think it’s misleading to call it a ‘Forum’ - visitors could go there expecting it to be a site of the forum-format variety…and instead see that it is purely a regular blog.
I agree with you about the questions (and level of questioning)…my initial remarks about the questions were hasty and unfair. Questions in more recent interviews have improved as well - so I was wrong about the questions being given.
“I do agree that the design could be nicer….”
(gasps) You agreed with me on that Jina! (Careful: Natalie might come back at ya with ‘you need to be more constructive about what you mean when you say ‘nicer’….hehehe)
“…but I have to agree with Natalie here. Matt, your comments weren’t really constructive.”
They were general (very general!) criticisms, and not constructive enough - I’ll accept that. If I’d known I was required to give a full web site assessment each time I commented on Jeff’s site then I would have only contacted the site owners and never left comments here at all.
C’mon guys - don’t tell me you don’t make standard comments on sites sometimes?!
I didn’t get in to ‘constructive’ highly-detailed remarks because my comments were made quickly at the time on one of Jeff’s (aside) links. If ‘Designinterviews.com’ was being reviewed on the main journal part of Jeff’s site - then my comments would have been more thorough and also more constructive.
“Except that Jeff Croft guy… ”
Hehehe, yeah…it’s only a matter of time isn’t?!
Hey, they’ll probably interview you soon Jina…back to those Sushi Rolls… ;)
Matt Robin: Lets forget everything, when are we seeing an Interview from Jeff Croft of BlueFlavor on the so called “Forum on Web Design and Internet” which itself needs a good web design and a forum skin to be converted to a Forum at first place actually!
Jeff: Whoops - I missed that! Ha! Maybe I should poke about in their archives a little bit more!! I’ll go away and read those now. Well, I’ll have a coffee first, of course, and then I’ll read them! :D
Actually, I vaguely remember something about your interview…but only vaguely.
I didn’t know Jina had been interviewed. Was she bribed with Sushi? ;)
001 // Matt Robin // 08.22.2007 // 3:12 PM
I’ll be honest Jeff, the DesignInterviews.com site desperately disappoints me, and I’ll tell you why:
It promotes itself as a Forum - when it is in fact a simple blog, not a Forum at all.
Only a slightly re-worked stock Wordpress template seems to have been used for the site (this takes all of about 40 minutes to set-up and virtually no design effort at all).
The questions are really general and very basic.
….and I’ll be quick to point out that none of these ‘notable designers’ would share their views on my own site - one that has been designed from the ground-up without re-using a template, states that it is a blog rather than something it is not, and has article posts that ask far more interesting questions.
Hey, maybe I should down-grade my site to a template (designed by someone else)….buy a domain name with ‘interviews’ in the name…and then ask really general questions to (already well-known) Web Designers too?!
With minimal effort, and no sign of an original design being used - that site is probably going to do better than my own just because those designers have been interviewed there! It is like ‘Amateur Night for Web Designers interviews A-List, Professional Web Designers’. :(
I don’t want to be too negative though…I do think the site has quite a bit of potential if it did the following at least:
I wish DesignInterviews.com all the best! :)
002 // Natalie Jost // 09.15.2007 // 1:57 PM
Matt, although I can see where you’re coming from, in general your comment here is unproductive.
A blog can be a forum when it has comments - it doesn’t have to be a discussion board, just a place where people can discuss something.
What in the world says a site has to be originally designed and can’t use a template, particularly if that site doesn’t claim to be a web design site. In this case we’re talking about an interview site. It’s snobbery to say it’s poorly designed in that sense. It would be more productive to come up with some real suggestions for how the site could work better if laid out or designed in some other way.
Instead of complaining, why not email the interviewers your own questions and ask them to include some in their next interview?
If you read the about page, they do say it is a blog, so that’s a moot point. And, as any good designer would know, “an individual and distinctive design all of its own” doesn’t in itself make for good design.
All in all, your comment seems to come from a place of bitterness because, as you said, “none of these ‘notable designers’ would share their views on my own site”, so I’d recommend people take them with that grain of salt.
However, I’m sure you have some valid points somewhere in there that could be better served by a private email to the people who run the site, with specific suggestions (instead of “better questions” offer questions of your own) on how to improve the site. Posting random complaints publicly on Jeff’s site doesn’t really help anyone.
003 // Matt Robin // 09.16.2007 // 9:32 AM
Natalie: Hmm, bit late with your response aren’t you?!
True, but my comments were criticisms - not complaints. I’ve made some commentary - where invited and I’ve got as much right as anyone else to say what I think about the [site being discussed]. For your information: I have since e-mailed the site owner’s privately too.
P’ah! It’s a blog only - face it!
Nothing, nothing at all…and I never insisted it did, but….
Hello - it’s ‘about Web Designers’ (did you miss that part?!)….so…this is where my comment about an ‘original’ (perhaps more distinctive) design - reflective of the quality Web Designers being interviewed - is fair enough.
Sure, I could do that…but I think that would be very patronising to their abilities as Web Designers! With the great pool of Designers they are interviewing, I’m sure they’d ask one of them for advice about the site’s looks or design (if they felt it was necessary). My initial comment was quite general…but that’s what it is - a comment (not a full, detailed Web Site Assessment!)
I think I was a bit harsh with my remarks about their questions actually. Please note that my comment about Helen’s interview with Nick Finck (more recently) is far more in praise of their questions. Maybe the level of questioning varies per interview - but I’ll admit that my original remark was out of line.
The site is providing an intriguing set of interviews and I’ve complimented the site owners privately about that too. I’m glad Jeff encourages views (even open criticisms) on his site because then it encourages a more realistic sense of people’s opinions about things (yours and mine on this occasion at least). If I ever have complaints about a site Natalie - I’ll always address them to the site owner privately, of course…rather than post them on someone’s blog…(or Forum if you rather, hehe). Cheers for your feedback about my comments.
004 // Jina Bolton // 09.17.2007 // 12:31 AM
I suppose I’m late on commenting, too.
forum: an assembly, meeting place, television program, etc., for the discussion of questions of public interest.
Not only are there questions being discussed, but comments are enabled. I think you are assuming that forum means it must be a message board-style site. While it’s common for those sites to be called “forums”, it doesn’t mean that these aren’t the only sites that are allowed to be called that.
As for the questions asked, I actually don’t mind if the questions are a little general (though I know from first-hand experience that they do their homework, and craft their questions based on who they are asking). Allowing the questions to be open allows the designer to answer it in whatever way they want.
I do agree that the design could be nicer, but I have to agree with Natalie here. Matt, your comments weren’t really constructive.
All this aside, I liked this interview a lot. They’ve interviewed some really great people. Except that Jeff Croft guy…
005 // Matt Robin // 09.17.2007 // 8:13 AM
Hi Jina!
[I wrote a good reply to your comment earlier, but I was in a hurry - I think I forgot to hit ‘post’ before leaving, shame!]
Of course the site can call itself whatever it likes - although the use of the word ‘forum’ (in the literal sense) is fine - and I’m not disputing that, it is just that it is not a forum-format or messageboard-style site but a blog-format site (which we all agree on!)…I’m just expressing my opinion that I think it’s misleading to call it a ‘Forum’ - visitors could go there expecting it to be a site of the forum-format variety…and instead see that it is purely a regular blog.
I agree with you about the questions (and level of questioning)…my initial remarks about the questions were hasty and unfair. Questions in more recent interviews have improved as well - so I was wrong about the questions being given.
(gasps) You agreed with me on that Jina! (Careful: Natalie might come back at ya with ‘you need to be more constructive about what you mean when you say ‘nicer’….hehehe)
They were general (very general!) criticisms, and not constructive enough - I’ll accept that. If I’d known I was required to give a full web site assessment each time I commented on Jeff’s site then I would have only contacted the site owners and never left comments here at all.
C’mon guys - don’t tell me you don’t make standard comments on sites sometimes?!
I didn’t get in to ‘constructive’ highly-detailed remarks because my comments were made quickly at the time on one of Jeff’s (aside) links. If ‘Designinterviews.com’ was being reviewed on the main journal part of Jeff’s site - then my comments would have been more thorough and also more constructive.
Hehehe, yeah…it’s only a matter of time isn’t?!
Hey, they’ll probably interview you soon Jina…back to those Sushi Rolls… ;)
006 // Shaal // 09.17.2007 // 12:52 PM
Matt Robin: Lets forget everything, when are we seeing an Interview from Jeff Croft of BlueFlavor on the so called “Forum on Web Design and Internet” which itself needs a good web design and a forum skin to be converted to a Forum at first place actually!
007 // Jeff Croft // 09.17.2007 // 1:17 PM
Both Jina and myself have already been interviewed by Helen at DesignInterviews.com.
008 // Matt Robin // 09.17.2007 // 2:38 PM
Jeff: Whoops - I missed that! Ha! Maybe I should poke about in their archives a little bit more!! I’ll go away and read those now. Well, I’ll have a coffee first, of course, and then I’ll read them! :D
Actually, I vaguely remember something about your interview…but only vaguely. I didn’t know Jina had been interviewed. Was she bribed with Sushi? ;)