Seven (or so) years ago, when I started Hatcher Design Office, one of my first acts as a self-employed uber-hip designer (after declaring my LLC status) was to design my website. It showed my portfolio and talked a little bit about my experience, but mostly, I was showing off my considerable Flash skills. Music, animation sequences, dynamic roll overs and transitions, just about every bell and whistle I could think of I stuck in. At the time, this was cutting edge, and pretty impressive. However, it was a completely static site. With the exception of an occasional portfolio swap-out (which happened pretty rarely, because, well I got busy with "real" client work, and (frankly) it is a pain in the arse to edit a Flash site), it didn't change.
Then, this was okay (even expected), because as few as five years ago, most people going online (who weren't part of web-development) were anticipating a largely passive experience. There was information, news and entertainment, but for the majority, it was a one-way conversation. Heck, remember dial-up? Getting on-line and staying there was enough of a task, never-mind having to publish anything! Having a website at all was a pretty big deal, one that was updated and current was generally left to major news networks and other big-time internet players. Only recently has it entered the cultural norm for regular, every day folks to enter the fray through blogs, social networking sites, etc., and make their thoughts, ideas and even their moods part of the tapestry of cyber-space. Which is looking less like some unknown frontier and more like home... We're closer and closer to McLuhan's "Global Village," gradually becoming one big wired tribe.
Therein lies difference (well, one of them): we are no longer paying brief visits to the web -- we now LIVE there. Likewise, we desire a web presence to be a living breathing changeable entity. To think, to talk and even have the ability to listen and respond in real time. We no longer want flashy bells and whistles -- we want content and a form that houses this content efficiently and effectively. In my opinion, this is a pretty good thing, and I'm as excited as anyone to see where this takes our culture next.
This site is still primarily a portfolio site, meant to promote HDO's creative services. But now, as a creative communicator in this brave new connected world, I have the opportunity to do something more -- to not just show the final polished product, but to share the part of my job that I most value, and that I find I am most valued for. The THINKING part! Through this new, simpler but more complex internet "presence," I can share thoughts, ideas and dialogue. Talk about process in the client-based world of design-business and the student-centered world of design-teaching and allow them to mix and mingle with your thoughts and ideas.
So check back. I promise to update more than every three years, but a disclaimer: are all thoughts created equal? Heck no. But that's okay, too. Sometimes, just a laugh is good enough.
Enjoy!
