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Sanford c01.tex V3 - 08/13/2008 2:49pm Page 8
Chapter 1: Why Design?
portfolios, are they really going to know that for client ABC you created innovative event handlers to
customize workflow procedures on the document library? That won’t come through in a screenshot or
even in a visit to the finished site. They would have to decide that they are still interested and then come
talk to you to learn about the cool technology you were capable of using. But if you lose them in the first
10 seconds of looking through your portfolio, you won’t get that chance.
Beyond that, though, what about referrals? Many deals today are made based on referrals or recom-
mendations from clients. So what happens when you turn in this powerful site but the design looks like
you didn’t even try to deviate from the out-of-the-box templates? Would the client recommend you?
Perhaps. But would you rather they say, ‘‘Well, these guys were pretty good. They did everything we
asked them to do and were great people to work with?’’ Wouldn’t it be better if they started off by say-
ing, ‘‘You have to get these guys. They blew us away. Sure, they did everything we required from a
business-requirements perspective. But have you seen our site? These guys are great?’’ Both scenarios
might get you the call, but one would get you a much better starting point with these potential clients.
And, to look at the other side of the coin, there are potentially going to be more and more consequences to
bad design. Sure, there are costs of users not buying what you are selling; that is the obvious consequence
if your site is horrible and ineffective. What designers might not think of, though, is that there are other
real costs. In February 2006, Target Corporation was probably shocked to find out that they were being
sued because their Web site was not accessible. In an effort to dismiss the charges, they claimed that they
met the requirements of law by making their brick-and-mortar retail stores accessible to all. However, in
October 2007, the Federal court thought differently. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California certified the case as class action on behalf of blind Internet users throughout the country and
determined that Target.com violated not only the Americans with Disabilities Act but also two California
civil rights statutes. This resulted in a lot of time and money being spent by the company to deal with
both the legal ramifications and customer satisfaction concerns. This is a headache that anyone doing
business on the Web just doesn’t need.
You can read the National Federation of the Blind’s press release on the decision here:
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/NewsBot.asp?MODE = VIEW&ID = 221.
It should be noted, too, that this is just one of the most recent legal battles forged publicly about Web sites
and accessibility. Similar suits have come up in Europe. This is a global issue that needs to be acknowl-
edged and addressed by designers. As the world continues to change, designers need to keep abreast of
the serious design considerations that change with it.
Why Should Managers Care?
Perhaps intuitively, managers should care about good design for the same reasons that developers
should. After all, it is important to them as well that they have strong portfolios, extremely satisfied
customers, and no negative legal consequences to the products they deliver. They are in the same boat as
their developers in this regard. In fact, it could be argued that these reasons are even more important to
the manager than to the developer; if any of these things bring about negative consequences to the ongo-
ing concerns of the business, the manager would be much closer to the shouting line than the developer
(for better or worse).
But more important than these reasons is the consideration of the impact on the organization’s employees
and their professional growth and happiness. Plenty of developers have no interest in design and see it
at best as a necessary evil. However, a growing number of developers really want to create good design.
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