VÄNDER VANDER: The portfolio of Skyler Vander Molen

…or you may end up looking like an idiot.

This has been all over the internet by this point, but I still think it’s worth mentioning.

So…

1. Read Write Web posts a blog post about Facebook Connect and Facebook’s new partnership with AOL to integrate your Facebook friends with your AIM buddies.
2. Somehow that story rises to the first page of Google results for “Facebook Login”
3. Despite the fact that it was the fifth result, hundreds of people click the link thinking they’re logging into Facebook.
4. Confused and angry Facebook moms, grandmas and dads post comment after comment asking where their Facebook is, why they can’t login and why Facebook has redesigned AGAIN!?!

As one of my co-workers pointed out, it’s hard to remember sometimes that this is the way a large segment of the population finds websites. It’s silly, it’s stupid and it makes no sense, but it’s true.

So if you’re one of those people constantly Googling sites you frequently use instead of just typing in the url or (here’s a novel idea!) using a bookmark, make sure the site you think you’re visiting is the one you actually want. Luckily all that happened in this case was people logged in and posted some comments that made them look silly.

…and other design stupidity.

Education is experience and surrounding yourself with people who have more of it than you do. Lately it seems that there’s an abundance of “design” sites with content made up almost entirely of ridiculous lists, all of which supposedly help you become a better designer (SmashingMag, WebDesignerDepot, the list of lists goes on and on). What’s more, they’re typically written by people who don’t know the first thing about design as a craft.

If you want to become a better designer, don’t waste your time reading lists. Lists build site traffic, not great designers.

Go get some books and surround yourself with people more talented than you are. You’ll be a hell of a lot better off.