Multiple Personality Web Designby Bobbie OsborneJust last year, my workstation at home was in front of a window. Through this window, I would watch the sun come up in the morning as I woke up, drank my coffee, listened to the husband and dog snore, read my morning e-mail, touched base with some of my favorite web sites, played with the "pay attention to me" psycho kitty and fed the turtle. A few years ago, I walked away from the old school work world as it expected me to be. I did this to spend 10+ hours a day, 5+ days a week for a new job that I knew I would love. As an Internet hobbyist, I jumped feet first into the world of Internet and web design. What I became was a middle-aged, tender gender member and jane of all trades in a testosterone shop of IT junkies. When I was not at work, I spent another 2-4 hours a day reading e-mail, sorting out my real email from the 100's of spam/junk mails that came into my multiple email boxes and then — evenings and weekends, most of my friends and family knew they could find me online with chat open, playing with web work. People that knew me well, also knew that most likely I was chatting with them at the same time I was playing with graphic work and didn't feel neglected when I often disappeared from the net for a while and on a regular basis. More recently, I have moved my workstation to a room without windows and distractions, where the coffee overflows and the cigarettes are burning away in the ashtray. Real life has intruded into my world. My multiple play web sites stand neglected and the psycho kitty has defected with a cult of ragtag wannabees that roam the neighborhood in search of freedom from tyranny. The husband and the dog still snore, but I now wake up to two special needs children, my niece and my nephew; both searching for love, consistency and stability from the often neglectful world they have lived in most of their short lives. My new children are 10 and 11 and they are now doing sleepovers with friends, baseball, Boy Scouts and french lessons. I have recently discovered that the husband is a great Mr. Mom. My passions have changed from being excited at the thought of learning a new graphic program or code, to being excited instead that Shelly actually slid into home base and scraped her leg; a huge accomplishment for this very effeminate little lady who has no real self confidence. These children are seeing things like fireflies for the first time and want to catch a jar full. Their heads are full of thoughts from the latest Harry Potter book read by the light of bugs at their bedside. They are catching snowflakes on their tongues in the winter and hiking the beautiful trails that surround us in the spring. My world has become one of multiple personalities. I now search for child safe web sites and won't allow the internet to be "the new baby-sitter" of this generation, like the television was to the 70's and 80's. We have pizza and movie nights every Friday, with family housecleaning day every Saturday. For the children, camping in real tents is next on our agenda and planting flowers in the front of the yard is now on the top of my list. I 've actually bought my first digital camera and my hard drive is filled with images of children playing on a slip-n-slide and the rope swing that now hangs in our backyard. All of my more recent web work has been related to creating and personalizing small business web sites, like the one I recently created for a crusty "old sea dog" type of a man, who happens to be a well known local artisan. He is a man of the earth who hates technology but still feels a need to be part of it. Everything he creates is from nature's hand me downs and he creates his artistic pieces with tender loving care. So, why am I telling you this? This is the challenge. It should be a challenge as well as a reality check for all of us as web designers, hobbyist or professionals, to remember how many people don't and/or want to understand the intricacies of the Internet. Many people want it to be magic. The last few years have forced me to find the balance between learning and creating cutting edge design work to making sure it is still "all people friendly." I have been challenged to change my focus and remember how the real world, "average joe" so to speak, views the internet world. Since those of us in the baby boomer age group didn't cut our teeth on technology, it wasn't an ingrained aspect of our education. We grew up playing in our own neighborhoods, and skinning our knees. Our best friends lived down the street. Computers and the thought of communication through computers were something for science fiction novels and movies. Unlike current high-schoolers that crunch code for breakfast, we the second career folks, often have to ferret out the new technologies and information for ourselves. On the internet, this often makes the learning curve much steeper for those of us who have entered this world instead of being born to it. The dot com generation has been as slow to accept second career designers and often believes we don't have the abilities to withstand the constant changes. But, that's exactly what we DO know how to do. We grew up in a world where direct human contact and care still mattered. We already understand that everything in life is about constant changes, both on and off the Internet. As new and used; first and second career;
hobbyist and professional web
designers, if we can personally bridge the gaps to find harmony and
balance, we will all be better for our experiences as we continue to
learn and evolve. The people oriented combinations that are beginning
to emerge on the internet are taking root and these combinations are
promising to be electric. It's a great time to be excited all over
again.
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