A cry for craft

I've been thinking recently about stats driven design. This is where site, or page, usage patterns inform the position, style and contrast of elements to, for example, increase the number of people who sign up for some service.

This, in turn, got me thinking about some of the available systems that automate creation - whether it be element creation, content creation, page or site creation.

I've come into contact with all of these systems and methods and found them uncomfortable. I had previously assumed this was to do with the way they often work to edge the designer out of the process. After all, design is what I do!

After more thought it hit me that what it actually edges out, and what I lament about such approaches is that they more often than not edge craft out of the process.

By craft I mean passionate, thoughtful creation. Creation of things that matter and are not just disposable. Yes, there is a place for informative stats in this approach, and for automation, in well crafted objects, but they are tools rather than the entire process.

'some projects are just disposable' is my own mental devil’s advocate. But should they be? What might the world (wide web) look like if craft came to the fore? How might it change our habits?

I'm not proposing something as austere as the shaker tradition, but it's base thesis of 'if something is worth doing it is worth doing properly' is well worth a thought. Along with an honesty to the task at hand.

Yes, the brief might be 'bare minimum' and the budget may be tight, but why? Why settle for working on a project with those requirements? Why surround and educate your future clients with disposable, 'good-enough' design? Why not select and build a portfolio of craft. Why not build a web of craft?