Not a Web application developed by Azavar™ Technologies gets a green light for launch without the approval of Creative Director Brian Flanagan. With a marketing degree and a minor in graphic design from Illinois Wesleyan University, Mr. Flanagan has a perspective of Web application development that goes beyond the brand thinking of most creative directors. Webability Trends recently sat down with Mr. Flanagan to get a first hand account of his unique perspective.

Webability Trends: So how did you get your start in creative design?

Brian Flanagan: I started at a marketing agency, and we had a rotation between account management, creative design and media buying or media placement. I liked the creative design rotation the best, worked in the creative design department for an interactive ad agency that go into building websites and I've been doing that ever since.

WT: What do you see as a problem of most websites?

BF: The designs are often created without the content in mind, and without a clear goal. For example, an eCommerce website might have a product or catalog overview that isn't necessary which makes the visitor have to work harder to purchase the product. The overview adds an unnecessary layer of complexity.

WT: How do you design around content? Don't you need a website or Web application before you can consider content?

BF: One thing we do right off the bat is find out the goal of the website or Web application. The goal helps focus the content, which focuses the design. Any website or Web application needs to have a specific goal, whether it's online lead generation or product purchasing or just being an information resource. You build the content and design around the goal, not the goal and content around the design.

WT: What are some of the most important factors for creating a website or Web application once a goal has been set?

BF: Audience is important. If it's a corporate website for a corporate audience, you want it to be clean with few items competing for viewer attention. For a small business or eCommerce type website, you want products to be clearly displayed with clear calls to action to purchase those products. A second important thing is content. Content is king, as they say, but content isn't just words on a website anymore.

WT: What do you mean, content isn't just words anymore?

BF: We want to get people to interact with the content, not just passively read it. Instead of having visitors constantly drill down to get more information, we want to bring the information to visitors. So by clicking on a piece of data, the chart will bring up the stats for the visitor instead of the visitor going to another page to see the stats. With visual tools now available for the desktop, websites and Web applications are becoming more like TV where you can have a stock ticker on one side, news information running along the other but your main information source still visible and easy to use.

WT: Like watching Fox News or NASCAR.

BF: Right. So you have a Web application you are using to manipulate data while information like World Cup sports, news developments and anything else of interest to you scrolls across the side or the bottom. You can still get work done without having to leave the application to check the news or sports scores. Eventually it will all integrate so that what you do on your desktop you can do on a TV screen or your mobile device.

WT: On a TV screen? Cool. Does that mean you need to build a website or Web application using a TV screen?

BF: No, not necessarily. When we build a website or Web application, we want it to be liquid, meaning that we need to just change a few components and not the entire application in order to move from a mobile device to a PC to a big screen TV. So we make adjustments to the code and design for a Web application to be seen clearly on a mobile device or a big screen TV, but the way in which the information is called, the back end functionality, stays the same.

WT: What challenges do you see coming down the line?

BF: The challenge will be to create something that is unique and usable. We don't want to confuse or jar the visitor too much, like having unconventional navigation as opposed to standard top or side navigation. However, we still want to distinguish your website or Web application from the pack. Another challenge, especially with interactive websites that sell products and services, is to keep them search engine friendly.