On cookie cutter design

So, regarding the “Design Machines” post making the rounds. I’ve got some thoughts, probably very specific to my discipline.

First, it hits on a bunch of interesting and important points about things that are changing in the web publishing world, esp. re: design.

But it also glosses over the fact that “web sites” and “web design” covers way, way, WAY more ground than magazine/editorial ever has.

Print/magazine/etc design is broad and often just as cookie-cutter. Comparing the standouts to the masses isn’t proof one is getting worse.

And (here’s where I get ranty), high touch per-feature editorial design work won’t improve the reading experience of most journalism.

There is no bright past where every story in the local newspaper got the magazine feature treatment. So, how do we make THEM better?

That’s a question that inevitably leads to templates, and patterns, and systems, simply because of the scale.