The small things matter (Part 1)
In a previous life (i.e. before I became a professional geek) I ran bars, restaurants and latterly, hotels. It was something I thoroughly enjoyed and completely engrossed myself in. I was fortunate enough to run several very high profile venues, some of which regularly hosted the highest profile people on the planet. I’m not here to name drop, rather to talk about toilet roll.
You heard me. Toilet roll. Bog roll. Loo paper.
Obviously.
Insignificant? I mean, it’s just something you use to wipe your bum, right? Wrong. Not to a pedant like me it isn’t. Toilet paper is something to obsess over. Here’s why:
Objectively there’s lots to think about: colour, fragrance, texture, thickness, pattern, price. Even right down to things like the height at which the holder is placed at.
Subjectively, there’s even more to think about. Tiny little details which very few of you care about or perhaps even notice. Should you be bothered whether the end of the paper is underneath or on top of the roll? Could you give a monkey’s if the very first piece of paper is unstuck and folded into a triangle? No, you shouldn’t. You, as the end user, it’s not your job to care about such minutiae.
Perhaps you can see where I’m going with this.
Ever wondered why hotels and some bars/restaurants leave the first piece of loo roll in a little triangle? It’s a little calling card from the staff. A sort of “Hey, we’ve been here recently. We actually give a toss about the appearance of our workplace. Even down to this tiny bit of toilet paper.”
The thing is, when you’re sat on the loo, doing your business, there’s not a great deal to do. That’s why sneaky advertisers have bought the space on the back of some cubicle doors. You’re a captive audience. You aren’t going anywhere any time soon. There’s nothing else to look at. So you’ll look at their advert for that ‘classy’ men’s magazine or jewelry.
This leads to two things:
- You start to notice small things (graffiti, chips in paint, the holes in the door where previous locks were placed, cigarette marks on the toilet roll holder etc.) and
- You’ll notice the same things (and more) next time you pay a visit
My point here is two-fold (geddit? 2-fold. Two folds in the loo roll. No? Tough crowd). The first being that people will notice small things if given the opportunity to do so. If, in a clutter-free environ with limited distractions, people will pick up on the details. And two, it’s somebody’s job to make sure the small things are done properly. At least, it should be somebody’s job.
But I’m a web designer. Not a toilet roll origami-ist.
Earlier, I mentioned some objective things about toilet roll. Colour, texture etc. Now, on some poo paper (crude, I know, but I’m running out of ways to describe it), these sort of things are minor details. On a website, colour is massive. I’m terrible with colour, hence the subtle palette of this site. I digress. However, other things on that list; texture, patterns, height, can all relate to subtle and small parts of a design. They’re important. They matter.
The subjective things have parallels in web design, too. Should your navigation stay on top and let the content slide underneath it, or should it scroll with the rest of the page?
I also probably shouldn’t have to tell you about the golden triangle when it comes to design.
When you design something for a client, you’re almost never actually designing for that client. You’re normally designing it for the end-user. However, your client will be the one who stares at the site the most. They will be the ones who notice the small things. They will notice your little easter egg in the logo (hint). They will spot your subtle-but-hopefully-not-overused CSS 3 animations.
And you know what? If they don’t notice them. You know who will? You. You’ll notice them next time you visit their site. You’ll be proud of your attention to detail. And that’s no bad thing.
The small things matter.
As an aside, what do you call someone who is performing origami? Origiamiist? Origamier?
Also as an aside, I’m fairly sure I’ve used the most boring images ever included in any article about design. #winning
Please also take note that, at the moment, I’m probably not practicing what I preach on this site. It’s very much a work in progress, but I wanted to get it out there for some ‘community’ input. “Do as I say, not what I do” as my Dad used to say.