Given the new impetus in the Enterprise Ireland Design 2000 brief to make the business world more aware of the benefits of design to their business - its ability to rise them above their competitors through strong branding, reach their customers in a clear impactful way etc., it seems ironic that Eircom, who recently sponsored the IIA Internet Advertising Awards should be advocating such an approach.

A current Eircom/Hewlett Packard 'E-pc' ad campaign proclaims that businesses can 'save money on expensive brochures' by having a website - and by 'designing it themselves.'

Running a similar campaign as part of its current 'GoselI' e-commerce drive, Indigo, the internet service provider, in print adverts and on the web extols that with their product there is 'no need for web designers.'

This kind of talk is not new however - a similar revolution of the mind happened some ten years ago with the advent of the Macintosh for desktop publishing - where businesses would no longer have a need to use a designer to produce their brochures or print material - they could just do it it themselves. However, It is only with time that it became apparent that designers were very much needed, as what the secretary or MD was producing with great pride was proving to damage the company image more than enhance it!

One would have thought that by now those who sell technology would have realised that software and hardware are just a tool, not a solution in itself particularly when it comes to creativity, or design. And whereas many of these products are quick ways to get businesses online fast and cheaply they still shine a bad light on the virtues of design and what it means to a business. Design is seen as unnecessary in the creation of a successful ecommerce business. Whereas the opposite could not be more true. It is all very well having a well implemented database or ordering system online but this does not mean that a customer is more likely to rush to the website.

In no other serious business would such advertising tactics be advocated so readily. Who needs architects, industrial designers, fashion designers, copywriters and the endless list of creatives in the industry that is design? it is perhaps the intangibility of design itself that confuses many in the business world.

With our own government website looking like it was thrown together by a webmaster on his lunch break and heavily advertised websites such as ebid.ie bearing a strong resemblance to other successful international websites, it would seem that even large scale businesses and institutions, with promotional and advertising budgets in abundance, still fail to concider web design of importance.

Some 40 years ago the late WH Walsh of Kilkenny Design in a report on the design industry then advocated '...that a good designer was as necessary to many businesses as an accountant or a sales director.' In 40 odd years the online world it would seem still needs convincing.

Previous artices >>