I’m once again in the middle of redoing my homepage, and any feedback is much appreciated.
I’m trying to say as little as possible: it seems that the more I try to explain things, the more confusing they become. (Am I right? Wrong?)
So I’ve got one version that just says “My business is thinking, writing, and designing stuff we can’t see.”
By “stuff we can’t see,” I mean ideas, knowledge, insights, skills, competencies, strategies, opportunities, wants, needs, conceptual frameworks and backgrounds, assumptions, expectations, experiences, whatnot… which is what I love working with, what I’m good at, and what I think the world needs more of — or at least more understanding and control of.
Another version says a little more by outlining Open Conceptual’s vision, mission, and values as follows:
Vision: become the world’s leader in developing and managing ideas.
Mission: articulate an exception to every rule and a rule for every exception.
Values: responsibility, respect, resourcefulness, resolve.
And of course, the Open Conceptual motto: keep thinking alive.
I’ve got mixed feelings about saying those things — I can’t help thinking they’re idiotic — so I’m going with the stripped-down version. (Let me know if you think I’m wrong. I’m expecting people to say they hate the “vision, mission, and values,” so your honesty won’t cause any pain. In fact, I seem to be hoping for negative comments: it’ll give me the excuse and inspiration I need to come up with new stuff.)
Some notes on the style:
It’s really plain — obviously — mostly because I don’t know anything about using web design programs, and the free program I have access to is far from flexible and reliable. (For example, I wanted some of the text even bigger, getting close to 100pt, but it never comes out any bigger than 36pt. And no matter what I do to make links not underlined, links always come out underlined in the browser.)
I also happen to like plain.
If you think I’m just being lazy or uncreative, take a look at these sites for some of the companies I would most like to emulate (not that it’s my intention to emulate anybody… maybe I should have said, “some companies I would not mind being accused of copying”): Bruce Mau Design, Obvious, Taxi Advertising & Design.
(I’m sure there are many other great minimalist sites for cool companies, but I’m not in the web design business, so I don’t keep track of them all. Please refer me to anything you think I might be interested in.)
The reasons I admire those three companies have nothing to do with their web sites. They take the approach that their website shouldn’t distract from what they do (even though in two of those cases what they do happens to be design). The key assumption is that the people who visit their sites don’t need to be entertained or dazzled, and have probably seen just about everything anyways, so a big show would just waste everybody’s time and attention.
Speaking of time and attention, I’m out of it. I hope I haven’t wasted too much of yours — though lending me a little more so you can email me would be great.
Just don’t tell me it looks good.
