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IT Graphics Magazine
September 2001

Australian Web Design - Is There Such a Thing?
By Paul Wilson

Pick up any international design journal and chances are you'll read an article about how "cutting-edge" and "world beating" American and European designers are. It seems that Australian design rates a poor second when it comes to the opinions of our creative brothers and sisters.

Paul Wilson investigates the hype to see whether antipodeans really do cut it when it comes to the web.

Australians have long been revered for our sporting prowess. Whether in Europe or the United States you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who didn't value our contribution to the global sporting community.

It's the same in big business and medicine. Just look at Qantas' reputation as a secure global carrier, the media frenzy over the BHP/Billiton merger, and our recent successes in biotechnology and cancer treatments.

But what of our achievements in web design? Are we Aussies simply followers of last season's international trends, or do we excel in a relatively new artistic medium?

You'd be hard pressed trying to find an answer in any of our metropolitan newspapers or television programs. Today's "modern" media ignores the designer and his or her potent influence on the day-to-day lives of Australians.

It can hardly be surprising then, that Australian web design is also largely disregarded overseas. European designers often look across the Atlantic and to Asia for inspiration, while their American counterparts boomerang the comparison.

Australian designers do not crave or need the validation of a watchful media, or international peers. In fact, we're doing amazing work in an industry still fighting-off the credibility destroying dot-com crash of more than a year ago.

And it's a bit unfair that web designers are bearing some of the fallout from what essentially was big business driven stock market mania. Countless numbers of hard earned web design portfolios are now just a cyberspace memory, and through no fault of the designer.

But this is where Australian designers excel, where Aussies have always excelled, as underdogs. Working with some of the lowest bandwidth in the world and under a conservative, Internet-censor hungry government, our web designers have and continue to inspire.

Our fresh, pragmatic, multi-layered approach contains a unique richness of colour and form that sees many Australian designers in strong international demand. Our expressive web sites are a reflection of inspired difference.

Australia's "give-it-a-go" attitude is also perfect for a medium that often requires creative courage and risk taking. How can designers not be inspired by this country's beauty, vigour and wonderfully diverse multicultural influences?

And so the next time you look at some European understated minimalism or American cool, think about Australia's energetic and potent contributions to the rich global web canvas.