Although a website initially seems to be an entirely dissimilar beast to graffiti, in fact there are many similarities.
Graffiti is a divisive topic. Fans of this urban art form praise it as being a serious art form, whilst equal numbers of people consider it to be a blight on the landscape. The same sentiments can also be applied to websites, with digital fans proclaiming them to be the best thing to have happened to human communications, and others considering them to be the digital equivalent of consumer hooliganism.
Make Your Mark
Although we consider graffiti to be a modern form of expression it has actually been around for centuries. Taken from the Italian word ‘graffiato’, meaning ‘scratched’, the term was first used to refer to marks made on ancient Greek statues.
Even our earliest caveman ancestors made marks on cave walls, and it seems to be an entirely human trait to want to leave physical manifestations of our presence. Similarly, a digital footprint in the form of a website or web page allows us to mark out our own little piece of the World Wide Web, stating the fact that we are here and we have a message to convey.
Think of graffiti and you probably envisage an urban wall or underpass scrawled and scarred with spray paint ‘tags’ or signatures, but genuine graffiti artists can produce genuinely beautiful and thought-provoking pieces of art. So too can some websites attract visitors due to the depth and breadth of their subject matter. Just because there are average and even poor examples of an art from, it doesn’t detract from the genuinely exceptional and outstanding pieces of work.
Creating ‘Eye Appeal’
Banksy is such a well-known graffiti artist that his name is known throughout the UK and also in the States. Often the subject of media stories, he managed to overturn the popular belief that he had been arrested last year when a new piece of work appeared overnight in Bristol last year, as reported by the Mirror.
In fact, Bristol is such a hot-spot for graffiti artists that the town council has even prepared a tour guide for visitors, according to the BBC.
So far, nobody has produced a guide for web designers, although for anyone in search of good web design Worcestershire is home to some great companies, including shineinternet.co.uk. Skilled professionals are always desirable when planning a web presence or campaign due to their knowledge base and skill set, backed up by years of experience.
Good web designers know that just as with good graffiti, placement is everything. Design a great piece of street art or a great website, and if the positioning is wrong then nobody will ever see your efforts. Pitch it right, where people will see it, comment on it, return to it, bringing their friends and family to share the experience, and you have a fan base of returning visitors.
Great street art, like a great website, captures the zeitgeist. There are plenty of urban hooligans defacing walls, but that doesn’t make them great artists. Equally, there are thousands of websites on the internet, but not all are worth visiting. Is yours?
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