1st Century BC Web site design?
by Steffan Berelowitz
Steffan Berelowitz founded Bit Group, Inc. in 1995, and over its 14-year history has helped to develop a client list of Fortune 500, mid-market and emerging businesses. In addition to his responsibilities at Bit Group, Steffan served as a trustee of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MA Software Council) from 2001-2006. Steffan served on the board of directors of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston as the chair of the advisory board of the Center for Information Technology of Hebrew College. Steffan is a member of the Boston College Technology Council. He is also a member of the Technology Network, a national network of senior executives from the nation's leading technology companies. Steffan served as an Internet consultant to former senator and presidential candidate Senator Bill Bradley. A graduate of Boston College, Steffan has spent the past 15 years in online services and technology. In 1993, Steffan was one of the key founders of ArtNet.
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I was recently listening to NPR about Vitruvius, a 1st century BC architect and writer. He is most famously known as the inspiration for Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci famous pen and ink drawing (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man). Vitruvius is best known for his De architectura, “The Ten Books on Architecture” in which he famously says that great buildings have the following 3 characteristics:
- Strength
- Utility
- Delight
By strength, Vitrivius meant that a building should last for a long time and be well constructed. By utility, he meant a building should be well organized with the necessary space and layout to serve the people who inhabit the building, and by delight he meant that a building should give aesthetically pleasure to those who look upon it or walk within its walls.
It struck me as I listened, that this is really a lesson 2000 years later for great Web site design. We should build Web sites to be (1) long lasting, e.g. with application logic, data or services layers that last a long time, (2) with effective information architecture and user experience design so that the people who use the site can find what they need intuitively and effectively, and (3) with a design aesthetic that is creative and pleasing.
Isn’t it fascinating that good design principals from Roman architecture are entirely relevant today?
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