I believe the days of the Web Designer are slowly doomed, which will accelerate over the next few years. Two other design firm owners I know feel generally the same way.

4 Reasons Web Design Is Dead



1. CMS Template systems such as 1&1, wordpress, drupal, amazon webstore, yahoo stores, etc. are getting better and better, they will soon be an idiot proof way for the layman to build a great looking website. Over the next few years these systems will get better and better, with beautifully designed templates.

*See the toolbar screenshot above from the all-new Amazon WebStore System - you want analytics? drag and drop. You want flash? drag and drop. You want drop down Javascript menus? drag and drop!

2. The youth are "Web Savvy", the other day I saw a 12 year old girl designing her fathers business website in a starbucks. Do you think this generation will be calling a web designer? No, they will install wordpress or the latest and greatest CMS system at that time, and since the youth are all proficient in photoshop they can easily whip up custom graphics.



3. The new systems for E-Commerce, such as Yahoo Stores even have "promotion" features and can help with traditional SEO/Design Firm functions; yahoo stores has a one-click blog, email marketing, tie in ppc, etc. Why even call an SEO firm??



4. The internet trends have a higher proportion of people watching video and social networking according to this Wired magazine graph; I.E. the big established blue chip companies like YouTube and Facebook gobble up over half of all web traffic; traditional websites are a declining proportion.

Yes you will still need a handful of great designers out there to design the templates for these CMS sites, but that will be a tiny tiny percentage for the reasons outlined above - and they will work for large corporations like 1&1 and Amazon.

I also believe that for the reasons outlined in point 3 plus the ease of starting a PPC campaign; I think SEO firms are also in deep trouble.

2 other design firms and myself feel the days of the Web Design Firm are over! but I welcome other opinions and would like to see a debate out of this.

Honestly, have you ever just looked through random websites? For every 1 good website there are AT LEAST 50 bad ones. Those people have no idea where to even begin to design a website. When their website sales or visitors NEVER increase and they wonder how to obtain a "real" website, they will come crawling.

Oh, as for those who DO "generate their own website" through some crappy code generator or install a free wordpress theme instead, those are customers we don't want anyway in the first place! "Um, can you build a custom e-commerce site from scratch for under $200?".

I understand your point somewhat, but never underestimate just how scared people are to delve into the web world. Good businesses succeed by doing what they do best. That usually is not NOT programming websites. Would a small business ever try shipping something themselves manually instead of using UPS? No way. Would a baker ever try to re-build his dough mixer with no electrical experience? Doubt it.

There are very few well designed websites, anybody can code a website, very few people can design one, saying web site design is a dieing business is like saying clothes, cars, architects etc designers are a dieing business, they are not.

A good simple example is banner and button designing, I do my own and thought I was pretty **** good at it, nice sharp reasonably interesting banners, I had a look at some of the banner and header designers stuff on this forum, I aint in their league

for some people point of view they will say that..

most of its user can make a website in just a click and drag, but work with a touch of website designer/developer has a much depth logic and they can make much and more complex functions..quality and functionality matters most

The insert widget thing you've shown is far from innovative. How is it different from any garden variety WYSIWYG editor? Is it's availability as a web app going to change design industry? WTF chuck, drag and drop is decades old!!

The difference between a good and great web design is a human factor that won't be reproduced by widgetized applications any time soon. You're talking about fancier tools, but they're still just tools. The end product is still up to the operator. Show me artificial intelligence first, after that there's critical design thinking and information delivery analysis. When a web app can do that, then I'll be worried for the web design industry.

You're worried about 12 y.o's hammering out wordpress and custom graphics in pirated PS? Where have you been hiding? Not much has changed in the last 10 years. Before wordpress it was opendiary and livejournal back in the late 90's. Blogs ain't new dude, they're just getting better PR.

The web design/seo companies that are smart will grow and adapt to the industry and market changes, just as they've had to do in the past. The demand for web related professional services won't change, what will change is the nature of that demand.

People that would not consider the services of a designer due to expense or ignorance may be confident enough to DIY. This is the segment of the market that these DIY web apps will appeal to; the "why should I pay for something I could do my self" crowd. Nope, these apps won't take out web design, no chance. You'll see a few more low budget sites go to the DIY scene, that's about it. These DYI site apps, web marketing apps, social media apps simply lowers the barrier of entry into owning a website and marketing it a bit more.

http://www.webmaster-talk.com/websit...w-website.html

First of all, I should point out that this board has 107,443 members; that should tell you a little something about the saturation of Web designers out there.

Second, the overwhelming negative responses to this blog are simply a contrarian indicator favoring this theory.

This argument about very few well designed websites out there proves my point; why should 90% of businesses who just need a basic site bother dealing with the 90% of ****ty web designers out there when they can get the same results from a CMS system in the future? Yes, as I said the very very very best, the top percentile of designers will still have a job designing templates or corporate sites for only the largest companies. Even companies like fox are using platformic CMS now for some of their sites.

metho, you are drawing a straw man here. My point with widgets is how they are advancing, and will advance over the next few years, and provide an interface the average joe can incorporate flash, drop down menus, etc. Blogs are not new, but the customization of them into full blown QUALITY websites is a new trend, and growing; and you missed my point that the youth are now better educated about the web than youth in the 90's, they are lightyears ahead in web design knowledge. In addition, have you looked on craigslist lately? 3 or 4 years ago their web design postings were a handful in most cities, now its every high school or college student in the world posting on there for 100 or 400 websites; and many times they are just customizing wordpress.

To chrishirst's point, I believe this is a concept right now, yes you still need web designers, but the writing is on the wall.

Originally Posted by racer x

I understand your point somewhat, but never underestimate just how scared people are to delve into the web world. Good businesses succeed by doing what they do best. That usually is not NOT programming websites. Would a small business ever try shipping something themselves manually instead of using UPS? No way.

In this case, the manual shipping option would be similar to finding and paying a web designer to setup the shipping of your product and ship it by freight or deliver it themselves. UPS would be the equivalent of the 5 clicks and your live CMS site option.

My point is, people don't have time to do/learn this stuff. Even if it is as simple as activating wordpress theme. They focus on what they do. I have heard it time and time again. "I do not have the time or patience to set this up" etc...

Most people also have the ableness to remodel their own homes. Their homes will look like sh** but again, there is a market for carpenters to do work for people who want a job done right.

What I am saying is: there are clients out there we, as designers, don't want(ie: those that make their own websites because they want to keep it free or under $50). And for every handful of those there are a handful of clients willing to hand the job over to a pro.

I am not totally negating your point. I think there will be an increase of people making there own websites as new software(etc.) emerges, however, there are still millions and millions of potential clients out there.

This aint no "straw man" Boar. You're arguing about the same dog, but different fleas. The dog being serious web design companies and business that are serious about the web, the fleas being in the $50 or free website market and all those that slave away in it.

People know how to cut their own grass - but they still pay people to do it.

People know how to clean their own house - but they still pay people to do it.

People know how to paint their own house - but they still pay people to do it.

People know how to detail their own cars - but they still pay people t do it.

ect.... ect....

People will always pay for convenience and professionalism.

I think the graph in point 3 is very misleading.

It only shows percentages and doesnt show in absolute terms how much the web has gone ballistic
in the last 20 years.

Originally Posted by Boar

1. CMS Template systems such as 1&1, wordpress, drupal, amazon webstore, yahoo stores, etc. are getting better and better, they will soon be an idiot proof way for the layman to build a great looking website. Over the next few years these systems will get better and better, with beautifully designed templates.

*See the toolbar screenshot above from the all-new Amazon WebStore System - you want analytics? drag and drop. You want flash? drag and drop. You want drop down Javascript menus? drag and drop!

Out-of-the-box solutions have their place, and they're probably going to get more popular but there will always be a need for bespoke designs, bespoke solutions.

I don't think there will be a system that can replace a designer when it comes to customising every element on your site. Look at the software we have right now. Apple's iWeb probably comes closest to drag and drop WYSIWYG editing, and it's great for home users, and I even know a couple of businesses that use it. But the sites it produces are terrible: the code is dreadful, too much inline styling, too many images etc.

Building sites through drag and drop widgets is a great idea, but I don't think it's universally applicable as too many websites require too much customisation. These editors will always have massive limitations. Sure, they will get better, but they'll also get more complex, and as HTML4 becomes HTML5, so do the demands of website. These editors will always be behind the times compared to a designer.

Originally Posted by Boar

2. The youth are "Web Savvy", the other day I saw a 12 year old girl designing her fathers business website in a starbucks. Do you think this generation will be calling a web designer? No, they will install wordpress or the latest and greatest CMS system at that time, and since the youth are all proficient in photoshop they can easily whip up custom graphics.

Again, only the ones that become designers will be able to further customise these things. Look at MySpace: most people really can't make anything that looks remotely nice when given half a chance.

The kids are much more tech savvy these days, that's true, but the web is getting more complex and the demands are changing. By the time they're adults, websites may be a thing of the past. So instead of web designers, the tech people will become app designers or something. Many web designers are already moving in this direction, I've certainly thought about it.

Originally Posted by Boar

3. The new systems for E-Commerce, such as Yahoo Stores even have "promotion" features and can help with traditional SEO/Design Firm functions; yahoo stores has a one-click blog, email marketing, tie in ppc, etc. Why even call an SEO firm??

I don't remember ever getting a Yahoo store up in the search results of Google. Guess those promotional tools aren't working so well...

Originally Posted by Boar

4. The internet trends have a higher proportion of people watching video and social networking according to this Wired magazine graph; I.E. the big established blue chip companies like YouTube and Facebook gobble up over half of all web traffic; traditional websites are a declining proportion.

Yes you will still need a handful of great designers out there to design the templates for these CMS sites, but that will be a tiny tiny percentage for the reasons outlined above - and they will work for large corporations like 1&1 and Amazon.

I also believe that for the reasons outlined in point 3 plus the ease of starting a PPC campaign; I think SEO firms are also in deep trouble.

2 other design firms and myself feel the days of the Web Design Firm are over! but I welcome other opinions and would like to see a debate out of this.

I think there'll always be a place for niche sites, sites not big enough to justify an app or something.

Maybe it's time to start learning how to build that iPhone app?

I think the challenge to web design firms is more from freelancers. So many freelancers these days can offer quite complex sites - ecommerce, blogs etc, for all the reasons in point 1.

there are still lots of people who will hire unless they know someone such as cousins who knew how things work. but i must admit CMS really will be of great help to them

Originally Posted by edgray

I don't think there will be a system that can replace a designer when it comes to customising every element on your site. Look at the software we have right now. Apple's iWeb probably comes closest to drag and drop WYSIWYG editing, and it's great for home users, and I even know a couple of businesses that use it. But the sites it produces are terrible: the code is dreadful, too much inline styling, too many images etc.

Building sites through drag and drop widgets is a great idea, but I don't think it's universally applicable as too many websites require too much customisation. These editors will always have massive limitations. Sure, they will get better, but they'll also get more complex, and as HTML4 becomes HTML5, so do the demands of website. These editors will always be behind the times compared to a designer.

All of these points you make are just minor bugs that will be worked out over the coming years. You think because the designs are terrible they will always be that way? Let me tell you the designs on some of the very newest are not terrible. Also the CMS systems I currently work with have a team of indians or what not always updating; yahoo went from tables to CSS, it wasn't a problem for their team to do that.

Originally Posted by edgray

The kids are much more tech savvy these days, that's true, but the web is getting more complex and the demands are changing. By the time they're adults, websites may be a thing of the past. So instead of web designers, the tech people will become app designers or something. Many web designers are already moving in this direction, I've certainly thought about it.

Absolutely correct. This is the point of the entire post, the jobs will be elsewhere, and probably many fewer. Traditional web designers and design firms at the low to medium level are history.

Originally Posted by edgray

I think the challenge to web design firms is more from freelancers. So many freelancers these days can offer quite complex sites - ecommerce, blogs etc, for all the reasons in point 1.

Exactly, to all of the other posts about how CMS is still to hard for people; there are plenty of high school kids on craigslist that can setup these CMS sites for 100 bucks and they will be good to go. The effect this would have will be to crush the entire industry and concept of a small to medium design firm. Only the BEST and GREATEST, probably the top 10% of firms would survive to service the large corporate clientele. But in essence the industry will be crushed.

Originally Posted by Boar

Traditional web designers and design firms at the low to medium level are history.

Now that's the writing on the wall, totally irrefutable. However I would not say doomed. Survival is an extremely good motivator, as they say, 'necessity is the mother of all change'. Many will adapt to the market, not just drop out.

So I don't appear to be contradicting myself with that last post, I might add that adaptation is the key. 5 years ago, CMS sites were expensive, SEO was expensive. These days both features are practically a given in entry level business websites.

As the fancy, dynamic features of websites become easier and easier to incorporate, the functionality manifest of basic sites grows. For example, the standard 4-page static business site is a thing of the past. I recall the last one our company did was 2 years ago. These days, clients expect so much more and the companies that can't deliver are dragging their heels.

Many will use CMS, and Many will pay some one at some point to do something that they cant regarding design. My opinion is you have a negative focus on something that gives every day people the ability to have an online presence without a professional look, Most of these people are not going to pay top dollar for web design, They will however pay you a small amount for a small design enhancement.

If people are using Amazon to design their site and are willing to pay 0.7% per transaction and $9.99 a month and still have restriction then something has gone wrong within the industry.

Every one I talk to who has paid a designer to do their site wants their site design improved in some way shape or form, I suppose that they don't get it done because they don't know any one, Don't have time to find some one and wont use their original designer because of price or lack of confidence.

SEO is constantly changing by the drive to have an edge over every one else, also most of these products that have email don't even comply with the CAN-SPAM act and are desperately needing more features unless you plug in phplist which is not built to be user friendly so you don't need to take your anti anxiety meds just yet

My opinion is that design should increase so don't worry about the Design Kiddies that can use something that some one else has built, Focus on capturing the disappointed users that use these services.

Sorry to say man. I think you are still not aware of true web designer’s value and power. Though many people use CMS template systems. Those things cannot match the originality of true web designs. I too agree that using something that someone has built is very easy. A good web design and web designers can never have bad future. They will always be in demand.

Aidan, on a side note... your color choices and design for your site are awesome! I clicked on your sig and in the first few seconds was blown away!

My two cents on the web design debacle I've been reading is that the world will always have a need for web designers. It's been said a few times already, people are good at their business. Their business isn't web design. That's our business. People will continue to try to implement their own websites, we'll look at their sites, offer our assistance, bid on the project, and ultimately be redoing those sites. Same old same. It doesn't matter what strides WYSIWYG's and CMSes make in the future.

I'm an optimist, but I feel like this is at worst a realist's approach. There will always be a need for someone, whether it be a design house, a freelancer, or an in-house dev team to manage corporate sites. As web designers, if we stay on top of our trade and don't become complacent, I feel like we don't have anything to worry about.