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Good Graphic Design

1) Introduction

Striving for a good design for a web site, the first question we need to ask is what does "good" exactly mean. An obvious approach is to define that a good design is one that is esthetically pleasing. However, the issue of esthetics will not be addressed here, for two reasons:

  • It is difficult to make any arguments one way or another. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The most that could be done is to make a poll as to what graphic design is more appealing.
  • Although a pretty site is desirable, its importance is actually secondary.

A different and deeper approach is to define a "good design" as one which most supports the purpose of the web site. For example, an anti-alcohol campaign web-site would not contain images of people drinking, even if they looked very cool. A web site of the USA government would not use background colors of an enemy flag (e.g., Iraq) even if they were beautiful. It is more likely that a USA site would use the USA flag colors, which the citizens of USA can identify with, and feel proud of. Purpose and identity take precedence over esthetic issues.

So the next question is "what is the purpose of this site?". One way to describe the purpose of this site is that this site has a message. The questions then are: "What is the message?" and "Who is the intended audience?" (i.e., to what group of people are we sending this message?). The short answer to these questions is that the message is that suicide is a valid option, and the intended audience is mostly ashers.

However, the purpose of the web site is also to serve the ash community, its values and goals. In cases where the web site cannot serve them, it at least should not harm them. Although there is no official body to declare what the goals of the ash community are, from the basic values of ash ( i.e. being pro-choice on the issue of suicide) we can derive the following goals:

  1. Raise awareness of potential ashers to the existence of ash.
  2. Raise understanding of people who are either interested in our views or who oppose us, to the position of ash.

So the web site should assist these goals, or at least not frustrate them.

2) The Design

There is nothing special about the design of this site. But when you think about it, that is pretty odd for a pro-choice-suicide site. Typically, sites similar to this one have black or grey backgrounds, and have "gory" pictures of death imagery. This site stays clear from grim backgrounds and gory pictures. Even if the majority of ashers would find a gory design appealing, this is not a sufficient reason to adopt it, since it relies on esthetics and not on purpose.

There are several reasons to avoid the "gory" approach:

Identity

A "gory" design does not reflect the identity of ash, but rather other subcultures like the Gothic subculture, which are more associated to the color black, and to pictures of death. The Gothic scene is derived from punk. They are both counter culture, disagreeing with society on many values and issues. Their revolt is dramatically expressed by the way they dress, dance, behave and by the music they listen to.

In contrast, ashers share a disagreement with society only on a single issue: suicide. It may be that many ashers disagree with society on many other issues. However, there is no reason to make ashers who are not "counter culture" unwelcome. Consider that many old people who have a debilitating illness or a terminal disease may consider themselves ashers, however, they could become alienated by a Gothic graphic design.

Ashers do not have many web sites, so their choices are limited. It would be a mistake to make some ashers feel excluded from this site because it contains imagery which they cannot identify with.

Potential ashers

The web is by far more popular than Usenet. Many people find ash related web sites before finding the Usenet newsgroup. This lends greater importance to the role of the web in users' initial impression of ash.

It is difficult for ashers to estimate the first impression of newcomers viewing a site related to ash. Most ashers do not even realize how gory the design of some of these sites are, and do not give much thought to the design, because they are accustomed to it. But for someone who sees it for the first time the interpretation may be very different and significant.

Potential ashers who do not know ash yet, may get the wrong idea from a gory design, and associate us with Gothicism. They may view a Gothic design as a depressing invitation to "go kill yourself". Depending on their inclination, the design may either attract them to ash (if they are Gothic) or cause them to lose interest (if they consider the Gothic approach frivolous), in both cases, it would be because of a misinterpretation of what ash is.

The Gory Message

Consider what message a grim design communicates. A Gothic design is essentially saying that the pages of the site contain dark, bizarre or eerie information.

We are trying to say the opposite about suicide. That suicide is not dark, scary or immoral. That it is not to be seen as a counter culture action made in protest of the "declining western civilization". Rather, it is a legitimate choice, which may be the right choice for some people, saving people from much misery.

The normal, black on white, design of this site tries to reflect our belief that our attitude towards suicide is normal and legitimate.

Mixed Motives

Gothic design is aimed to shock others. The design distinguishes Gothic members as having a unique sense of taste, making them "special" and cool. This raises concerns that the main motive behind sites with such designs are social. In turn, this raises doubts about the site's content, since the reader may question whether the content is presented because the authors believe in it, or just because such content is shocking and thus provides a social need of belonging to a special/cool subculture.

For this reason, graphics which distinguish us in a dramatic way actually detract from our message, since they assist the reader in ascribing other motives to the authors of the site. Motives which dilute our message.

Alienation

A different concern is that using a Gothic design, ashers might be more reluctant to refer other people to the web site. Ashers may have close friends with which they want to share their thoughts, they may have a close relationship with an understanding mental therapist, or they may feel the need to explain their situation to their family after a suicide attempt. It may be that some documents on the web site can help communicate their thoughts more clearly. However, a Gothic design may cause some ashers to feel more ashamed to do so.

One may argue that such web sites are not intended for outsiders, but exclusively for ashers, thus the design should not take others into consideration. It is true that such sites are intended for ashers, however, we complain about how society alienates us. If we have an opportunity to increase understanding and relieve some of the alienation, then this is definitely for the direct benefit of ashers. Graphics which hinder such information sharing should be avoided.

Furthermore, some people outside the ash world seem to acknowledge our point of view. For example, ash is recommended by some sites neutral about suicide. Also, a few support groups for suicidal people recommend ash. This is good, since it supports the goal of raising awareness of potential ashers to the existence of ash. The Dutch Euthanasia organization has a link to the ash web site. Geo Stone's book mentions ash and was actually inspired by it. Most ashers, appreciate that Geo Stone found ash useful. There is no point in alienating such people and organizations. IMO, current links to ash sites with a Gothic design are done in spite of their design. Changing such designs would increase linking to ash sites, which in turn would even make ash sites easier to find using search engines like Google. This is definitely for the benefit of the ash community.

Opposition

Another group of outsiders we are concerned about are trollers and do-gooders. Such people, superficially glancing at the web site, may conclude that we are pro-death rather than pro-choice, and would view our verbal denials as inauthentic, increasing their attacks.

3) Answering Arguments For a Gothic Design

Private Interpretations of Gothic Design

One might claim that a gory design is actually aimed to promote the acceptance of death. Although some people and some subcultures may have this interpretation of death images, the stereotype society associates with Goth culture and imagery is that of pretension, vanity, angst and death[1]; Not acceptance of death, but perverted fascination about death in general: skulls, graveyards, coffins, etc. If all potential ashers were Goths, then we could count on them to interpret the imagery "correctly", however, potential ashers are likely to interpret a Goth design like most of society would. Thus they may find the site alienating.

Driving People Away

Another class of arguments for a Gothic design claims that there are advantages for a site which drives people away. According to such arguments, driving away outsiders is good so they will not bother us, and driving away potential ashers is good because we only want the "serious" ones to stay.

However, driving away outsiders, so they will not become trollers or do-gooders may back-fire, since a Gothic design may cause outsiders to misunderstand our position, and thus attack us for views which we do not believe in. So although it may be that a Gothic design would drive away some outsiders, it may also attract others.

It is not clear what good it would do to drive away "non-serious" ashers. What is a "non-serious" asher anyway? What damage do "non-serious" ashers do? The only "non-serious" asher I can think of is somebody who is actually a Goth and not an asher. Of course, a Gothic design is likely to attract this kind of people, bringing more "non-serious" ashers into ash.

Association

Some may claim that since ash conjures an association of death, images of skulls and death are appropriate. But association is not a good reason. Death images for a pro-choice suicide newsgroup is like a pro-choice abortion group having a butchered foetus as an emblem. It is grotesque, and does not serve any purpose.

4) Conclusion

The problems associated with a "gory" design are a result of ignoring the important yet subtle distinction between pro-death and pro-choice. A pro-death position is grotesque, frivolous and immature. The essence of ash is being pro-choice and not pro-death. For outsiders and potential ashers this may be confusing, and death imagery only serves to further muddle the distinction.

To summarize the arguments against a Gothic design:

  • It alienates many ashers who cannot identify with it.
  • It can confuse potential ashers, and as a result, they will not join ash.
  • It sends a message that the information on the site is bizarre, a message which contradicts the values of the ash subculture that suicide should be a valid, "normal", option.
  • It encourages readers to ascribe additional social motives to our community, and this dilutes our message. One may come to the conclusion that we do not really think that suicide is a valid option, rather, we just think it is "cool" to hold such a position.
  • It does not encourage ashers to share information with non-ashers. Although this does not increase the alienation of ashers towards society, it does not help to reduce this alienation, whereas a non Gothic design would encourage sharing and decrease alienation.
  • It misrepresents our views to outsiders, which in turn may provoke more opposition from do-gooders and trollers.

References

[1] A Study of Gothic Subculture
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