Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Sign up for free
Menu
Search
Features
All features
Private URLs
Password Protection
Custom URLS
Scheduled publishing
Remove Branding
Restrict embedding
Deck Collections
Notes
Features
All features
Private URLs
Password Protection
Custom URLS
Scheduled publishing
Remove Branding
Restrict embedding
Deck Collections
Notes
Explore
Featured decks
Featured speakers
Programming
Technology
Storyboards
Explore
Featured decks
Featured speakers
Programming
Technology
Storyboards
Pricing
Search
Sign in
Sign up for free
How we design the web
Search
Sponsored
·
Ship Features Fearlessly
Turn features on and off without deploys. Used by thousands of Ruby developers.
→
Laura Kalbag
September 26, 2014
Design
210
1
Share
Embed
Copy iframe code
Copy JS code
Copy link
Start on current slide
How we design the web
From a talk at WXG in September 2014
Laura Kalbag
September 26, 2014
More Decks by Laura Kalbag
See All by Laura Kalbag
Ethical Design
laurakalbag
1
150
Intro to UX
laurakalbag
1
220
Ethical Design
laurakalbag
1
3k
Accessibility By Design
laurakalbag
1
150
Designing For Accessibility
laurakalbag
2
190
Indie Design
laurakalbag
4
2.2k
WAI-ARIA in 10
laurakalbag
1
300
Designing for Accessibility
laurakalbag
0
110
Designing for Accessibility
laurakalbag
1
560
Other Decks in Design
See All in Design
言幹と言葉(Stems & Leaves)
kakukoki
0
260
もっともらしさ生成器と暮らす – AI懐疑派の試行錯誤
sekiguchiy
0
220
Findy - デザインチーム紹介 / Findy Design Team Culture Deck
findyinc
14
150k
使いたいときだけ使う 「道具のようなアプリケーション」を考える
fumink7
0
380
The ISO 25964 standard on Information and documentation — Thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies
accessinnovations
0
370
設計の進め方と 品質特性品質特性
harakeishi
0
1.5k
BeatBoards
fizzyfiree4
0
120
2026/6/26 第6回韓日リビングラボネットワークフォーラムin世宗 ー未来を作るリビングラボー アジアの社会システム転換に向けたリビングラボの可能性
a2k
2
130
20260802東京都市大学オープンキャンパス授業
a2k
0
120
デザイナーの判断をAIにつなぐ ── 審美眼をハーネスする試み
kotasaito_cnt
0
1.4k
デザなに#1「問いのデザイン」の紹介LT
garyuten
0
180
技術に明るくない人が技術を選ぶために
moco1013
0
160
Featured
See All Featured
Mozcon NYC 2025: Stop Losing SEO Traffic
samtorres
1
600
Large-scale JavaScript Application Architecture
addyosmani
516
110k
Rebuilding a faster, lazier Slack
samanthasiow
85
9.7k
The untapped power of vector embeddings
frankvandijk
2
2k
Paper Plane (Part 1)
katiecoart
PRO
2
12k
For a Future-Friendly Web
brad_frost
184
11k
Helping Users Find Their Own Way: Creating Modern Search Experiences
danielanewman
31
3.4k
More Than Pixels: Becoming A User Experience Designer
marktimemedia
3
620
How to Ace a Technical Interview
jacobian
280
24k
SEO Brein meetup: CTRL+C is not how to scale international SEO
lindahogenes
2
3k
Exploring anti-patterns in Rails
aemeredith
4
560
Bootstrapping a Software Product
garrettdimon
PRO
306
120k
Transcript
How we design the web Laura Kalbag @laurakalbag
None
None
None
None
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
None
None
None
I didn’t realise that design wasn’t just aesthetics
I needed to study “Graphic Design”
None
None
None
None
None
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
school subjects skewed my perception of design
Art and Design
Graphic Product Design
art
graphics
the output was always aesthetic
looking at other design roles helps us understand what constitutes
design
Game Design
Urban Design
Landscape Design
Interior Design
Lighting Design
Industrial Design
What is common to these different design practices?
conceptual planning and generating ideas
overarching structure
the smaller details contained within
constrained creation
making decisions and solving problems
it’s not about making it look pretty
“do UX on it”
if your work involves planning or creating work that affects
the final product, then you’re *designing* that product
you are a designer you are a designer
this isn’t about job titles, it’s about roles and responsibility
it’s not two streams
I wasn’t like the other graphic designers
None
None
DIGITAL DESIGNER
inspiration
“Where do you get your inspiration from?”
it’s an odd question
What is inspiration?
where do you find the little seed of an idea
that grows into the creative solution to a problem?
None
Where do you pinch your best ideas from?
None
Christo and Jeanne-Claude Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971-95 Photo: Wolfgang Volz
Researching solutions
every problem we solve through design is unique
similarities
when we’re researching solutions through the experience and ideas of
others, it’s like being back in art lessons again
None
the answers can’t all come from one place
Picasso The Lovers, 1923
gaining confidence
the way we researched evolved
conscious decisions
conscious research
saving the details
the more experience, the greater the osmosis
The exceptions
None
uncertainty and newness
I find myself needing to learn again
this time around
I want to feel as though I know what I’m
working with
Design as a practice and process stays constant
We’ll always be able to apply skills of seeing, solving
problems and making decisions
We need to be smart about how we learn
Ensure we don’t fall back on the work of others
when we should be innovating for ourselves
ego
we’d all love our work to be perfect at the
first draft
our work becomes interwoven with our self-esteem
our desire for perfection sets us up for a fall
our ego doesn’t want to see us as flawed
design is nuanced
don’t be so precious
our ideas are as likely to be conflicting as they
are complementary
ego’s one (useful) purpose
bravado
“I might just be good enough…”
keep the balance
the strength in iteration
job titles as descriptions
None
WEB DESIGNER
as a web designer, I became better at web design
specialising gives us more time for practice
learning for ourselves
being good at design isn’t just about doing good work
the killer motivation
What do you do when you're not working? - Jessica
Hische procrastiworking
We’re only motivated by financial reward to a point. And
when we’re only motivated by money, we don’t do our best work. Neural basis of the undermining effect of monetary reward on intrinsic motivation - Kou Murayamaa, Madoka Matsumoto, Keise Izuma, and Kenji Matsumoto
so if money isn’t a motivator for us, why are
we here?
we care
and that makes it craft
Craft. /kräft/ (noun) creative artistic activity involving construction, carving, weaving,
sewing as opposed to drawing
make or construct, especially with careful skill
why do we bother staying up to date?
quality materials
our materials are thoughtful decisions and careful consideration for our
users
machine ………………………………… creative
a sense of craftsmanship
None
None
flangdooberry
now, I’m a designer
now, I’m a designer (and I’ll craft if I want
to…)
from client work to full-time
ind.ie
working for people
ind.ie/manifesto
ind.ie/manifesto
ind.ie/manifesto
ind.ie/manifesto
good design is fighting for what you believe and working
hard to make something truly good
we can do good design when we’re not having to
fight bullshit
Laura Kalbag @laurakalbag