Designing for users

This article first appeared in issue 237 of .net magazine – the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers.

Within the design profession it’s common to witness a sense of being too clever for our own good. This needs to stop. We’re fooling no one but ourselves.

With each new technology, framework or advancement in browser capability, our attention is focused on the horizon of possibility instead of on the function of purpose. Yet every aspect of design that makes it into the final product needs to have a business objective. If it doesn’t, it’s there solely for our own self-gratification.

What we do is not art. We’re paid to fulfil a business need and ensure our client makes a return on their investment. We help others succeed, grow and gain respect. We are service providers in a commercial industry: a very chaotic, misunderstood, and undervalued industry.

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The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Ecommerce Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Editor, Digital Art and 3D Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson and Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The 3D World and ImagineFX magazine teams also pitch in, ensuring that content from 3D World and ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq. 

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