The "Art" of Graphic Design!
  Written By Darren

So, you got your computer, you downloaded the lates version of Photoshop, you checked out how others are designing paysites...and now you're ready to put up your own "design service" site and start raking in the dough, right?

Gee, I wish it were that easy. Sure, you may be able to work on your own sites and take the knowledge you've gained and put together something that works for you, but the fact is that it's not a matter of saying, "Cheap web designer for hire" and consider yourself "in". Sure, you may be able to cut up a few images, add them to a montage, slap some Eye Candy on it and you've made a paysite. Hold on turbo. I don't think that's gonna cut it. You see, there's more to making it in the adult site design business than knowing your way around Photoshop and being able to do pretty graphics. That's only about half of it and many people wanting to get into the design part of the business do not realize how much you should know before jumping into everything feet first.

I will never claim to be a "know-it-all", "guru", "swami de graphico", or "the source" when it comes to design. No matter what line of business you may be in, the minute you make claims like that, someone is surely going to show you up in no time. Every day is a new experience with a never-ending learning curve, and things definitely change rather fast on the net. As a matter of fact, you may have the hottest looking design, but the bottom line is whether or not it converts browsers into buyers. I've seen some pretty great looking designs that couldn't convert worth a crap. So, don't fool yourself into thinking that designing something that works is an easy task.

Stepping Down From Pedestal

So, with that said, what makes a design work? I wish I could answer that in one sentence. If I could, I wouldn't have to type much longer and could go flip on Oprah and kick back for an hour. Heck, I wish I could answer that with a blanket statement that covers all aspects and niches of the adult business. But I can't. The one thing I can say is that every design should be done to specifically target your audience AND incorporate a balanced mixture of text/copy, graphics, software compatibility, ease of use and download speed. Pretty graphics may work on one site, but may look "too professional" to sell the target audience.

One thing that discourages me when I go to is site is wondering, "what do I do next", or "how do I get to what I want". A site that is designed so complex that a person doesn't even know what to do, is surely going to die...and how. Surfers have no time to make analytical decisions. As a designer, you need to either prompt them to do something now, or give them the easiest and most obvious way to cruise through your site. A "call to action" needs to be in place whether it's a call to get to the next feature or a call to join now.

Along with ease of use and cool graphics, your copy must taunt them and convince them that they are not going to get what you have to offer anywhere else. Just as important, if not more, your copy should let them know that what you offer is what they want! Your copy should tell them what your graphics may not be able to do. The graphics and copy play the biggest part in all this, but if neither is there or not working, you've lost again. If you can't talk the talk, your surfer is not going to walk the walk to your join page. They'll simply walk somewhere else.

Besides the graphics and copy part, a designer should know how their design looks and acts in different browsers. At a minimum, you should look at your work in both Netscape(NS) and Internet Explorer(IE). NS is known for not being as forgiving as IE is, especially when it comes to tables. If you miss one tag in your tables, you may try viewing it in NS and wonder why it's not even showing. So, keep both browsers within reach so you know your work will be visible to the majority of surfers.

Lastly, download speed is important. There are more people using a broadband connection these days, but the general population is still on a dial-up and will be for a good while. I recently saw a question posted on one of the graphic designer boards that asked, "What is the max size of a splash page that you guys do?" It seemed to be the average max was about 105Kb. That may seem like a lot, but it seems to work ok for the most part and still leaves a good quality to the design. Anything less than that is a plus, while anything more than that is pushing it. You should also try to reuse images throughout the site if you're doing a paysite tour. Items such as the navigation, header and possibly the sizes can be used again if they don't change their look or position from page to page.

I recently did a paysite design that consisted of a 700x400 pixel splash page and a join page and nothing more. I received an email from the client yesterday that said, "Just wanted to let you know - *************.com is converting amazingly! We're very happy with that one, I think you hit on something that really works" - That's definitely something that makes it all worth it. But it just goes to show you that it's not just the act of slapping together some images, but the right combination of several elements. It worked for even this one page deal.