Web Design in Greece (A crying game)

The other day I took a walk at websites owned by Greek companies which develop and promote Web Design and some freelancers too. The walk left me a bitter taste. In one word: we are not good web designers, we don’t design well. Get it to know bro: our designs stink.

I ashamedly discovered designs which were replicas of others. People who aim to sell themselves as pioneers do not hesitate to copy each detail of a well designed website and sell this work as their own. I have done this too and I am not prowd of it. At least I tried to alter the original design and above all I didn’t sell anything stolen. Now I am looking back at those so called works and I want to demolish them all. Fortunately, I have already done it to most of them. But you people who steal and sell your monkeys, shame on you. Now if want to stone someone, go ahead and stone me. This won’t make you less responsible for your manners.

People who call themselves educated have no idea about Web Standards. People who promote cutting edge design don’t know how to write a style. In general, Greek web design is of low level. Which is explainable if we think that the specific area is badly treated from institutions or companies. There are very few designers who do their work well and most of them have been trained or educated abroad. Greece is a country not ready to support our area and we must get used to it but not accept it in silence.

I have learned the hard way how things work (mostly by making mistakes like the ones mentioned above) and why we can’t design better. At least soon. Experience can’t be acquired easily, especially when customers or employers push designers too hard.

During that walk I also looked for a conference focused on web design in Greece. Nothing. A conference focused on Web in general. Nothing. I searched for any kind of organization concerning Greek web designers. Guess what… nothing at all. How are we going to evolve if there is no chance to do so? I have written it before: we remain helpless and still, while the world surpass us.

We should do something about it. So this is an open call to people who are professionally engaged to web design in order to communicate and see what we can do about it.