A new rhetoric by Stewart R

Author:Stewart, R
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-09-12T16:00:00+00:00

What’s so special about the web?

Considered against this, crudely contentious, view of the relationship between art and communications, the web might look like just the latest girl on the street. In this world “the sell” is everything and still motivates what most websites do, and how they look. To a large extent this maybe true, but some characteristics of the web suggest that, as a medium, it may be moving, naturally and almost of its own accord, in a slightly different direction.

The parallels between the web and the art of memory show that the structured use of design is already mainstream on the web. The structure may currently be more vague than the art of memory recommends, but it is nevertheless a structure shaped by design. This is borne out in the kind of “wow factor” after which web designers strive and which user experience gurus champion. The most recent generation of websites covet this “wow factor” in a serious way. Sites that are “sexy” and “cool” have become not only aspirations for cutting-edge startups, but a requirement for more mainstream organisations. It might be argued that the logic of the user experience and the way this is shaping web design is already pushing it towards a form of communication (or “corporate” communication) which recognises the communication as an art form appreciated in its own right. Might, then, the logical outcome for the future be a website that is appreciated in the same way we appreciate Giotto or Caravaggio?

This situation shows up not only in the websites on public display, but in the people who create them. Working in web design studios, or even in corporate web teams, is often a little different from working in other corporate teams. Web teams tend to attract young idealistic people who are almost prepared to work flat out on a project in the belief they might change the face of modern culture. These are the sort of people that have traditionally been called “artists”.

All of which begins to suggest that the world of the web contains fertile soil for an approach to communications which is both governed by a practical goal and artistic credentials. The industry has not reconciled these two characteristics entirely, and this might very well be some way off. But, speaking from the inside, it feels like a momentum is building in this direction.

It is scarcely defined and poorly understood intuitions like this that makes working with websites and online technologies so interesting. Anyone who knows even the slightest and slenderest technical detail can begin to sense that the web has potential with deep roots. The industry is certainly saturated with technologies, and marketers have invented every possible form of rhetorical bullshit you could imagine, but that’s because they all have some sense of the seismic changes underfoot, and the opportunities these create.

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