I make websites. What I do is art and science. I don’t do it with a brush, a calculator, a pen, beakers, a keyboard, or even code anymore, I do it with my brain.
I collaborate with others to realize a fully formed vision. This thing is in my brain, I can spin it, turn it, see how people use it, understand where they will go, how they will flow and why they will do things.
I know these things because I read…a lot. I read about usability, user experiences, how people do things, why they do them, and how they do them. I know these things because I have, for decades, observed what people do on my sites, and I can extrapolate that into the future.
I take the ember of a great experience, I gently blow on it to make it hotter, I feed it to build it bigger, and then I hold it tight to my chest where I keep it secure against the elements, against the forces and people all around it that want to snuff its life.
I consider every detail, I agonize over the big picture and how it all comes together. I sweat the small details, the extra four pixels of line height, and exactly how large the headline is. The whitespace is intentional, that large picture has a purpose, I know to the pixel how much space your eye needs to breathe, I understand innately how through repetition,
I know these things because I have done this for a LONG time. I can explain this to you with words, but my words do not impart upon you my wisdom, I can show you, but you will not “know” simply because I say.
These are the things I do. I don’t know why I know that one thing will work while another won’t any more than I know why my heart pumps blood through my veins. I just do.
I respect that you have opinions, I understand that what I do doesn’t look hard. I know I am not a doctor, a scientist, or even an artist. Nevertheless, I assure you, what I do is hard.
I make websites.