Hello World! I work as the Group Program Manager for Microsoft Expression Web Designer (code named “Quartz”).
A few days ago a five year old asked me 'What does a Web Designer do'?
The definition of a Web Designer swirling in my head was far too complex for the five year to understand. I think of a Web Designer as someone who creates engaging experiences on the web. I think of Web Designers as professionals who help clients extend brands into the online world and empower clients to better serve employees or customers via the web. I didn't dare offer these definitions to the five year old.
Since I intend to serve Web Designers via “Quartz” for the next phase of my life, I realized at that moment that I need to get a more succinct definition of a Web Designer into my head -- not for the sake of the five year old but for my own sake. The best that I have been able to come up with so far is that Web Designers make the web fun and engaging to use. Web Designers are to a web site what a chef is to food.
But I blurted out to the kid – “A Web Designer makes computers fun and easy to use”.
I didn’t say ‘A Web Designer makes *websites* fun and easy to use because I didn't think the five year old would have understood the meaning of the word ‘website’ either. I replaced the word ‘website’ with the word computer because I think the web will soon become such an integral part of the computing experience that few will distinguish a computer from the web. This implies that Web Designers will be responsible for a consumer’s entire computing experience – not just the experience of launching a website in a separate browser.
The first version of “Quartz” will be a comprehensive toolkit to build standards based web sites that run in any web browser. But as the boundary between a web browser and the computer’s interface starts to blur, future versions of “Quartz” and other members of the Microsoft Expression family will provide a comprehensive toolkit to build end to end computing experiences.
When that happens, Web Designers will become ‘Experience Designers’.
P.S.
A brief bio about me -- I started as the Group Program Manager for Microsoft “Quartz” four weeks ago. Prior to this role, I worked as a lead Program Manager/Group Manager for products in Microsoft Office and MSN. Most recently I was the Business Manager for S. Somasegar (Soma) – VP for Microsoft’s Developer Division.
