The New “Expert”

Warning: unhinged personal rant after the jump.

I own a small web development company. Well, before Katrina, I owned it, and had two employees. Post-Katrina, I have a full partner and a company I outsource stuff to. My expertise is moderate; I am by far not the most knowledgeable person in the business, but I do know how to get answers, and our work product is very solid - well-designed websites with whatever level of interactivity that the client wants. I say all this so that you won’t have the impression I suffer from hubris. I don’t. I know my limitations.

However, I was up half the night alternating between anger, frustration, and a helpless, sick feeling that I’m about to lose a client over something stupid and beyond my control - because he’s taking advice from someone entirely unqualified to give it.

I just built my third site for a very successful entrepreneur. For the first site, he kicked back every beautiful design we gave him and literally insisted on something ugly, because, as he put it, “people remember ugly.” Garish, uncoordinated colors and a splash page with an embedded video, very amateurishly produced, of his children in one of his TV commercials.  I did at least prevail on one matter - it’s got a link for the user to click through to the home page. Credit where it’s due - it’s a very memorable website. The second site is better; garish, uncoordinated colors but simpler, no splash page, and somewhat better designed.  I consoled myself that I had tried to reason with him, and that in the end, the important thing is that the client is happy.

The third site, completed in a couple of marathon all night sessions, is the best-designed yet, although still not up to our normal standards. The colors are still a poor combination, but less garish than usual. The poorly produced TV commercials are not embedded in a splash page; they’re embedded in the home page along with other content.

But… somewhere along the line he got hooked up with an architect who also provides illustration services.  She’s done some very cartoonish ads for the entrepreneur’s new project. From a marketing standpoint… well, I wouldn’t have made that choice, but it’s defensible.  I guess.  I think cartoons should be reserved for things like children’s breakfast cereal advertising, but that’s just me.  Unfortunately, this architect has now stretched out into website development - to wit, critiquing MY site.  For example, criticizing the contact form. Nobody needs a contact form - you should just have an email link! When you click on it, it launches their “mail composer on their computer” where they can type in the information. And (this one really stung) noting that “net convention” is that video should not autoplay. Good grief, I know autoplay sucks - but this is the client who insisted on a splash page with autoplay just last year! I didn’t feel I had a choice, and refighting old battles seemed pointless. So to get dinged for it now by a newcomer who didn’t know that history was aggravating and seemed very unfair.  His response to this person was infuriating: “You obviously have web site experience and should be in charge of setting up this web site for maximum impact.”  I tell you, when I read that I could have howled at the moon.

After several years of ignoring and over-ruling my advice, this new person sweeps in and he buys every word.  Never mind the fact that nearly 700 million people use webmail as their primary email - so an email link that launches their default mail program is a huge annoyance - AND the company loses the ability to capture valuable marketing information by foregoing the form.  Never mind that this architect’s site is poorly designed and actually uses frames - the very flower of 1993 web technology.  This is now the “expert” who would either replace me or supervise my work.

I guess there’s a lesson in here somewhere, but for the life of me, I can’t see it right now.  I’m just frustrated and mad.