About Me

My name is Steve. I feel it's important to start with that fact. Layoutology isn't a company with a staff of artists and programmers and marketers. It's just me and my laptop working to make the internet a little better with every site I work on.

I got into website design from my first job out of college. My college background was in Human-Computer Interaction from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, sometimes called Human Factors, but generally known as Usability. I started college like thousands of other Computer Science students, lured by my love of computers and the prospect of big paychecks before the ink would be dry on my diploma. Halfway through, I found that just programming wasn't so interesting, and my academic advisor started talking about a new major they were looking to start. It combined computer science and psychology and taught how to create computer programs, hardware, and designs that people could understand.

People with a background in computers usually forget about the user. They think that everyone knows as much about computers as they do, and they create programs that a regular user can't understand. Think back to one program you've used that just didn't make any sense and you could not get to work right. That is an example of bad usability. I studied bad designs and good designs, and my whole major was focused on creating good designs.

It's the same thing with websites. There are so many bad ones out there. They can be visually appealing, but they fail to explain what the site is about. They lose people in rollover images and links that go nowhere and are impossible to use. You know it's a problem when a Computer Science graduate can't figure out your website. All these companies design to what will impress their client, even if the client's customers can't figure out where to find anything.

And, isn't that what's important? Having your customers, or the people who will read your site, find what they are looking for? I would like to think it is. I would like to think that you think it is. Web 2.0 has been a consultant's dream, because it confuses people. I can set up a site with XML, CSS, and RSS feeds all with AJAX and use some XHTML and create a API. Sounds impressive, but I just made that up using all real terms that are in the Web 2.0 lingo.

My methods are rarely as fancy, but they deliver results. A good design is more than just a site filled with Photoshop images, Flash animation, and extensive coding. A good design will help people find what they need and make them want to come back. A fancy design is designed to impress you, but rarely generates the repeat traffic you want, or even need, to survive on the web.

That's just my take on it though. I think the results of usable web sites speak for themselves though.

Drop me a line and we can work on creating another good site for the internet.

Steve