The design community is failing. Here’s why:
After coming back from a year off I’ve noticed a change in the design community. I want to point out this change and start a conversation with other designers about the issue that the design community is facing.
The List Post
Call my a hypocrite, but I’m sick of list posts. I’ve posted them since 2007 here on Elite By Design, and they are often met with loads of traffic. Everyone does it right?
Right – and that’s the problem. Dozens of new blogs are springing up every month offering the “best of” or “most beautiful” showcase and collection posts. For a while, these were great – authors were obviously investing time to find the best and most beautiful examples of whatever topic they chose.
However, as the design niche becomes more and more crowded, there simply isn’t enough unique content being created to keep these lists posts original and fresh.
Today when going through my feeds I saw these three posts:
A Showcase of Beautiful Typography In Web Design
Web Design Trend Hunting – Big Bold Typography
55 Examples of Huge Typography In Web Design
Three posts about big typography in web design, posted on the same day. Coincidence? Maybe. Each of these posts is certainly high quality – they feature what I agree are some of the best examples of typography being used in web design. However, they each use more-or-less the exact same examples, aside from a few unique finds per post.
Killing The List Post
On my Facebook page for Elite By Design, I take my favorite articles that I find on Twitter and my feeds and publish them for my fans to view. Out of the last 31 links I’ve shared, 20 have been roundups, showcases, or “best-of” posts.
The relatively new Smashing Network aggregates the best posts from the best design blogs on the web. Today on their Network Posts page, 12 out of 14 entries are list posts. Over 85%.
Web Design-Ne.ws aggregates links from all across the design niche. 8 out of the last 12 entries were list posts. 75%.
Design Newz by Spyre Studios: 11 out of 27 of their latest posts were list posts. 40%.
Design Bump: 9 out of 20. 45 percent.
Chad Mueller describes his thoughts on this issue:
“Today too many blogs are being created, I feel lost in the information and inspiration. There can only be so many different showcases featuring (insert number here) Examples of Brilliant Illustrations. I understand the internet has endless information, and we are just trying to showcase that. I would just like to go to a few destinations to get all the information.
Let Me Hear Your Thoughts
Here’s where I stand:
The current web design atmosphere is polluted with non-original, rehashed content. Lists posts are taking over, and without enough original content to fuel the lists, bloggers are reusing old content that’s been seen countless times before.
The design community needs to focus on writing fewer list posts, and writing more unique, thought-provoking content. List posts, despite their merits, are nothing more than reorganized, rehashed content from other websites.
Here’s the action behind my words: I won’t publish a list post again. New, fresh, and original content only on Elite By Design. What will you do?
Your reactions? Post in the comments below…
paul
February 22, 2010 at 7:15 pm
i’m sure it’ll be posted 1,000 times in 1,000 comment area’s online (if it hasn’t by now)… but i long for one of these “uber x-named supertwitterfollowing site” to find ONE in depth design/ux/ui/ixd/typography/whatever example and write an in depth breakdown of why. top 20 this? give me ONE of that, and stand behind your reason, and showcase your “expert” opinion/critique.
tell me about the code.
tell me about the layout.
tell me about the color palette.
tell me whatever you “feel” about that site.
tell me about that site, and that site only.
and here’s a novel idea – try to find a NEW site out there, not one of the big names from the big design studio’s that give big pricey conference presentations that the next twitter RT is going to feed to 10,000 in seconds.
dare to be different in a good way.
dare to dig deep and become something above and beyond the usual “50 beautiful uses of the same thing we saw last month but my new followers haven’t clicked that link yet” lists.
thanks for taking a minute to post this – it’s appreciated!
Brian Lovin
February 22, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Wow, a beautifully written comment. I agree, and your ideas are indeed what the design niche needs more of. Thanks for your input Paul, I’ve actually already taken steps towards what you’ve described in a post coming up soon! Stay tuned.
Janko
February 23, 2010 at 7:23 am
Well said, Paul. That is exactly why I hate list posts.
Jeremy
February 23, 2010 at 8:40 am
You just said everything that there was to be said…
+1
Michael Savage
February 22, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I completely agree with you on this one and I’m guilty of doing some of the lists posts myself but I’ve stopped doing then now. haha
Brian Lovin
February 22, 2010 at 7:27 pm
I’m completely guilty – I’ve been doing them on Elite By Design since the very beginning. Even if they get tons of traffic, I have to keep in mind that most of the traffic is from Stumble Upon or Digg or Delicious where the visitors only stick around for a few seconds, not exactly quality traffic.
I think that’s the mindset design bloggers find themselves in: list posts are faster and easier to write, and typically do the best on social media sites. They forget that social media visitors rarely care about the blogger or site in question.
James DeAngelis
February 22, 2010 at 8:22 pm
I think there needs to be some distinction between the format of the list and the content itself.
On it’s own, it’s not like the list is killing the content it’s presenting. It’s the shallow and rubbish commentary that always seems to follow. List posts have become so connected with this that it’s almost impossible to take them seriously. Educated readers will see the headlines and run.
Aside from a very few select sources, i’ve given up on design writing on the web. The dribble that comes out of our top press like Web design ledger (or to a lesser degree Smashing Mag) is atrocious. There’s actually become a trend of knowledgeable designers writing response posts because there’s just too much wrong with them to point out in a single comment.
Negatives aside we need more actual journalism in our community. Expose the inner workings of design problems, provide a thought out answer that may not have been covered before. Get to the real meat and potatoes of things. All too often there’s a sort of glazing over when it comes to this, popular sites know that people want a quick fix and the list post is going to tell them exactly how to do it in under 5 minutes! Real value is never going to come like that.
Design writing needs a major shakeup or it’s going to become laughing stock.
Brian Lovin
February 22, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Your words ring true James. I think Smashing Magazine is doing the best, in terms of new content. But I agree, I think too many bloggers are missing the point.
It’s too easy to say “Look at this beautiful website.”
It’s much more difficult to say “Look at why this website is beautiful.”
Agree?
Kate Nickerson
February 22, 2010 at 9:35 pm
I totally noticed the same thing today with all the “big typography on the web” posts! I couldn’t agree with you more. I am also tired of seeing list posts that are simply a round-up of other people’s content. I wish people would create their own content more often. If all people blog about are lists of things they find on the web, there will never be fresh content! It amazes me how popular list posts can get because I honestly don’t see that much appeal in them. It just seems like a lazy way to write a blog post to me.
Anyway, thank you so much for writing this, and I hope a lot of bloggers read it. I look forward to reading your future posts!
Brian Lovin
February 22, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Totally agree Kate, thanks for your comment. I’ve got some ideas for Elite By Design that I’m hoping will shake things up in the web design niche. Stay tuned until March 1.
Catherine Azzarello
February 22, 2010 at 10:57 pm
I’m sick of most list posts, too. Love Noupe most of the time, but sheesh! keep the list number manageable! 50 or 75 is too time consuming to absorb.
Personally, I refuse to write such posts. Everyone else already is. When I post, it’s usually because something hits me that I need to work through–that I’m passionate about. Don’t have lots of followers, but at least my content is original!
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 7:24 am
Certain list posts that keep the numbers low are able to be more in-depth and informative. Once numbers get too high though, the post becomes irrelevant. Great job writing original content – keep it up!
Franz Jeitz
February 23, 2010 at 2:44 am
I had those 3 posts in my feed reader too and thought exactly the same. I’ve been fed up with lists for a long time, but more so with the uninspired themes. Whether it’s big typography, minimal webdesign or grunge fonts, it’s sure to come up every week or two.
Personally I’ve given up on list posts a long time ago to focus on high quality freebies and to showcase new and unique artists instead.
I do believe that list posts can be very valuable, if done properly. However I much rather prefer to read about techniques and motivations that lie at the heart of these themes.
Hopefully people will take the time to read original content, rather than just consume as much as those lists as possible. Time is precious and I understand that lists are easy to skim through and still benefit from them. However, taking 15 or 20 minutes to read a novel article presenting new arguments is more rewarding and inspiring in the long run.
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 7:25 am
I’m amazed at how many people are noticing this incredible list-post mania that is hitting the design niche. Yet, blogs are not responding and continue to pump out a list post per day, simply because of their success on social media sites.
A quality article that takes time to read is better than a list post that takes 10 seconds to skim. Period. Thanks for your comment Franz.
Anisa Dawn
February 23, 2010 at 6:36 am
Oh, I wish you could hear my sigh of relief! I would never mind if a list had 4-5 items with well though out commentary and then a link where I could view more if I wanted to. Even during a research binge, a list longer than 10 is daunting and bound to have good ones missed in my scan.
Good luck trying to start this revolution!
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 7:27 am
Thanks for your input and comment Anisa –
If list posts could be effectively commented, I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with them. If a blog wants to post 50+ beautiful examples of typography in web design, I have no problem as long as they are able to explain WHY the typography is beautiful, what typefaces and fonts are being used, etc. The problem is that nobody, including myself, is doing this!
Hopefully we can start to change that.
Crystal
February 23, 2010 at 7:08 am
I want to see what Paul suggested.
I’m so tired of list posts, it makes me want to crawl under a rock and never come out again, or at the very least avoid them like the plague.
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 7:27 am
I would like to try what Paul has offered as well. Thanks for your comment Crystal
Murlu
February 23, 2010 at 7:11 am
I’ve rarely been checking my RSS feeds anymore simply due to the fact that I get flooded with all of these roundups.
I think the most absurd post had something along the lines of 1000+ Photoshop Tutorials which was about 50 or so roundups of roundup posts.
What good can I do with that?
Sure it’s a great resource but at that point, I could simply just do a quick google search and find them myself.
What I want to see when there are these kinds of posts are:
1. Some kind of introduction – why did the author choose this subject, what inspired them and why are they sharing it with me.
2. A few examples of the work but with commenting – tell me what you think was good about the design, how it affects your emotion
3. Coding examples – Okay, I’ve seen the examples, help me figure out how to build it! I love being able to look at a few logos and then after I begin to be inspired, going right into a small tutorial keeps the ball rolling.
4. Throw in some interviews, even just one liners – email the owners of the website or the people who made them, get the back story
5. Leave me with a piece of thought – you showed me some examples, taught me a few things, got inside the mind of people and now wrap it up in a way that when I finish reading the post I feel like I want to go and try to make something
I think it all comes down to the point that roundup posts is basically a lazy RSS post. If you wanted to do a post about “Large Typography Logos” you do a few Google searches, check the galleries, browse a few forums and in a few hours you’re good to go. I can easily do that but what I want is information on what makes them so special.
I think that’s the reason why so many people simply skim posts. When they are hit with 100+ pictures and links to techniques, they don’t know which one they should check out.
A lot of people throw around the saying “don’t be the jack of all trades” and what’s happening with these posts is that it’s just simply too much to work with where you never actually get anything done.
I’m just sort of rambling, my bad.
We’ve all been a bit guilty of doing round up posts, they are helpful at times as long as you can place your opinions and really make it worthwhile to read.
However, I do think we really need to begin moving away from these kinds of posts. They don’t really benefit the community.
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 7:32 am
Wow, quite the comment Murray. Thanks for your thorough input. I’m taking your words to heart – I love the suggestions you’ve made, including #4. If the actual designer could share their thoughts and design process with readers, articles would be so much more interesting and informative. Like I said above:
It’s easy to say “Look at this beautiful website.”
It’s much more difficult to say “Look at why this website is beautiful.”
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 7:23 am
This morning I saw a 950+ Photoshop Tutorials collection – a roundup of roundups. Next thing it’ll be 10,000+ tutorials – roundups ^ 3
Marco
February 23, 2010 at 7:24 am
Yup, you’re absolutely right here. I think most people start with roundups, since they’re pretty easy to create and generate loads of traffic. Yet, there also is another side of this medal.
Next to the face that more and more people are starting to “hate” these kind of posts, the durability of those posts don’t last as long as a serious “high quality” article. They generate a lot of traffic for a short while, but on the long term they’re useless.
But I have to say, there are different kinds of list posts: Those that are an actual “roundup” (like “best 100000000 photoshop brushes”, “100 sweet WP themes” etc.) and those that have some better investigation in front (Like an “inspiration from xxx” article). The second one can be really good, while the first one is just pretty boring.
I try to avoid those lists posts too and write more high quality articles myself. Now that you’ve shared this post with the world, I expect no more roundups from you too
!
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 7:28 am
Thanks for your input Marco – and yes, I won’t be posting any more list posts, promise! I’ve actually got a huge experiment coming up in March that I hope will be a succes.
Joe Howard
February 23, 2010 at 7:49 am
I have to agree that I think list posts are overused and is a lazy way of creating content. I’m not tired of lists though, I’m tired of not seeing any additional content with them. If the time is taken to keep an encompassing subject matter, say typography, but add a critique with each item, I would be good with that. If the site is there to inform, they should be informing. Anyone can copy and paste a url and screenshot, but I would love to see more substance in relation to the standard list post.
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 8:00 am
List posts have their merits if done correctly. For example:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/22/35-beautiful-and-effective-ecommerce-websites/#more-25826
That post is a list post, however, each example is accompanied by 1-3 sentences about the design and why it works. I like that.
Thanks for the comment Joe!
Joe Howard
February 23, 2010 at 8:02 am
exactly! Thanks for bringing attention to the subject and pushing for better design content. I appreciate it.
Jean-Baptiste Jung
February 23, 2010 at 7:51 am
First, thanks for your links to CatsWhoBlog
Now, my advice about list posts: You’re right, we are seeing TOO MANY lists posts. Why bloggers write them? Because they work.
As an example, follow my url link and see my yourself: A list post received an average 80 comments while a tutorial receive an average 20 comments. That sucks, but I haven’t the solution for this
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 8:04 am
I think you’ve nailed my point right on the head: list posts suck, but they are easy and they work. Some list posts I’ve written have been viewed several hundred thousand times. My most popular tutorials? Much, much less.
As far as a solution? I think that it’s a ‘design-niche habit’ to comment on list posts because we can scan them in 10 seconds, add a comment without having to actually read the post, and move on. If an article takes 10-15 minutes to read and analyze, people are much less likely to invest that kind of time and will leave, regardless of the actual value.
It all comes back to peoples’ short attention spans online. We don’t like to invest a few minutes to read a good article. Instead we scan a list post, drop a quick comment to get our names out there, and move on.
We’re all guilty. The only solution is to start changing. Stop commenting on list posts and start only commenting on valuable original articles. This is the only way I see for the list post to die. Do you agree?
Murlu
February 23, 2010 at 8:38 am
Definitely.
Although a list post may get more comments, often times they’re just “thanks!” or “good post”.
However, the tutorial comments usually go into detail, asking questions, talking about techniques, stuff that actually continues the conversation.
Janko
February 23, 2010 at 8:57 am
But is the number of comments that counts, or a quality of discussion?
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 9:01 am
I believe it’s the quality of discussion. Just an example:
I wrote a post here on Elite By Design a while back titled 40+ Most Powerful Anti-Meth Advertisements (http://elitebydesign.com/anti-meth-ads/).
This post never did well on social media (0 retweets). However, the discussion that the article sparked has been truly moving. I have current meth addicts, people with histories of meth in their families, and recovering addicts all commenting on my site. These are people literally spilling their hearts and feelings into a random comment form on a design site. How amazing is that? Just browse some of the comments, I found many of them quite moving and touching.
This is the kind of discussion we should be striving towards in the design community. What do you think?
Janko
February 23, 2010 at 10:23 am
You are absolutely right. I think that comments are integral parts of posts that extend and shape original bloggers’ thoughts and add value to them.
Your Anti Meth Ads article is a good example of how readers can engage more. I am looking forward to seeing the upcoming experiment
Janko
February 23, 2010 at 9:00 am
You are right Brian, the solution is to involve readers more and in a different way. Quality of this discussion in comparing to dozens of “thank-you-comments”? Obvious.
Matt
February 23, 2010 at 8:39 am
I’m also getting tired of Lists, but what really kills me are the lists of lists that sites are starting to post. “120 examples of awesome typography!” really… really? no you just swiped a couple images and linked to three articles on different sites which mostly feature the same content, and were in my rss feed yesterday. Thank you for wasting my time. Of course, you can always do away with the pretense of creating original content and do nothing but link straight to other site’s posts… Design Meltdown.
Amber Weinberg
February 23, 2010 at 10:06 am
What kills me is that I did a typography post about a month go with using most of the examples in those 3 from yesterday. I’m not saying they stole it or anything, but it’s really frustrating to see theirs go viral, when I spent over. 2 hours looking for great examples of typography.
I agree about the lists though. I hate them as well and tried a few out on my blog to see if they would do well. I’m guessing I have a higher quality of readers bc they hated the lists and prefer in depth articles. ;P
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 10:28 pm
So sorry to hear about your tough luck! At least you can be rest assured that your readers are genuinely interested in quality content. That ought to make you feel good
guidoguido
February 23, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Thanks for this really honest post, it really explains my own opinion about this matter. I read Chad Mueller’s article a few days ago and while reading that, I thought about exactly the same thing. About a year ago I stopped reading the list posts because there were to many, now there even more.
I hope that one day I can read list posts again, this will only happen when everyone stops writing them and only about 3 of these posts are “allowed” to be written within a month! But that’s never going to happen.. It would be awesome tough, when this post appears in a post called something like: “Top 10 articles about blogging”!
Grant
February 23, 2010 at 1:56 pm
I am with you here. I am getting very bored of list posts. The web design ‘blogosphere’ is extremely over saturated with them. I never write lists posts on my own blog, I always try and write unique content. My site may not get as many hits as a result, but I’d rather keep my integrity. Do people have such short attention spans that they only read list posts, because they take so little time and effort to read?
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 10:28 pm
It’s sad but true, I think our attention spans are growing shorter. I’ve often found myself bookmarking a post because it was actual content, only to never go back and read it. Maybe I’m just lazy?
Scrivs
February 23, 2010 at 1:59 pm
The revolution started last year and is still moving forward:
http://www.drawar.com/articles/smashing-magazine-killed-the-community-or-maybe-it-was-me/39/
That’s the new site you are looking for.
Brian Lovin
February 23, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Thanks for sharing this Scrivs, love your site
Matan
February 24, 2010 at 9:35 am
“I’m sick of list posts” – me too.
Dalia
February 24, 2010 at 11:52 pm
I usually skip throught these posts – they are not that nessessary/informative or inspiring.. It would be nice to get one or two a month, but not every other day ….
Thanks for posting…..
Zhuoshi
March 2, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I completely agree. They are useful at times but my RSS reader is just stuffed with them, and I skip over practically every single one.