UKNM: Re: UKNM Digest V1 #225

[Dorian Spackman]

Not content with attacking me alone, Neil, you now feel that you have to

attack more than one person simultaneously. In an off-list mail you

described dealing with me as like having a "pissing contest with an

intellectual weakling". Interesting. I believe that the subject John was

dealing with was really more to do with discussing a balanced approach to

putting a web presence together. I don't believe he was looking for yet

another knee-jerk reaction from you. I actually appreciated John's comments

but strangely felt that some of your comments below were valid too. Must be

a first? However, do you need to take the line that you continue to do, i.e.

slate first, ask questions later? Many people on this list believe that

putting great sites together is about a blend of IT skills and creativity

(oops, the old media terms keep flying), something that is an unusual mix to

say the least. Surely a bias towards one or the other is to put a project

and the client's investment at risk and also to leave you as the developer

open to accusations of poor performance, a la Waterstones in a previous

posting. Waterstones is a classic example of poor planning but then you

would possibly expect that due to the fact that a very talented company like

NVision decided to hand all the interface work over to The Web Factory. Two

companies should be able to work as one on large projects such as this but

it obviously didn't quite happen.


I for one would like to put an end to this petty bickering, Neil, I made

some points, I got some support, I got some flack (from you) and now I want

to get on with some work and maybe some discussion of more constructive

ideas. If you feel the need to send more critiques like the one which you

mailed to me yesterday and have now elaborated on below, fine, but you have

long since been added to the auto-delete on my Inbox. Please keep them off

the list as I think that the last week's discussions have been thought-provoking

and interesting, I'd like to see more of that.


In the words of someone not too distant - toodle pip.


Dorian Spackman

Business Development Director

Terra Nova Media Ltd.

doriansterranovamedia [dot] com

+44 (0)1784 410035

+44 (0)802 796468

www.terranovamedia.com


Terra Nova Media - The Digital Frontier


> Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 15:04:20 +0100

>

From: "Neil Aberdeen" <neiltui [dot] co [dot] uk>

> Subject: UKNM: Re: UKNM Digest V1 #220

>

> >Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 09:53:03 +0100

>

>From: John Braithwaite <JohnBGBGdirect [dot] com>

> >Subject: UKNM: Flash - saviour of the Universe???

>

> >Dorian,

>

> >My email was not just a response to yours and yours wasn't the

> >first to raise some issues about graphics v. speed. The 'Mars' was less

> >to do with living on this planet, but more to do with a certain

> >successful book about men and women.

>

> Dorian, I've got to hand it to you, conceit and stupidity in equal measure

>

> >The graphical issue is

> >one that will not go away - I mean, would a good creative say to his/her

> >website producer: "I think we need less graphics and more text and every

> >box or line should have a square edge"? NO, and that's not really a

> >creative's job. They want to do fun stuff that looks cool and gives them

> >a good 'portfolio'.

>

>

> The thing is that you don't really understand or think about design as a

> process. You are betrayed by your use of old media terms to describe new

> media development. The use of 'creative' as a noun is always arch and

> affected and your use of it describes a dysfunctional process where

graphic

> design is abstracted from functional design. Denigrating design in this

way

> leads to sites that have to re-developed for poor reasons rather than good

> ones. As developers of a number of Reuters web-borne applications I can

tell

> you that we know about performance, (Reuters sells on blocks of time) but

we

> are also there to develop the brand and make the site 'cool'. The

> polarisation of Flash and old skool graphics is symptomatic of an arrogant

> and broken process. (BTW Dorian, Reuters - famous the world over for their

> CD ROMs)


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