I will not mince words. The truth is that most of the Kenyan (even African) web designers, who designed (or rather attempted to design) the sites I often visit, have become a disgrace to the profession. They have smeared the art and jumbled up the beautiful poetry that was once called web design. If you doubt my seemingly harsh words, please take a look at our State House website and compare it to the awesome White House website. Let’s face it. Kenyan web design sucks, plain and simple.

The few good sites that I have seen are largely unaltered premium themes. No one seems to be “creating” anything. How then can it remain a creative field? But, to begin with, has it ever been a creative field? The undesirable effects of this trend are more than you can imagine. It’s a total mess. I’ll try and give you a sketchy picture of our current web design reality, the result of quacks working for big time clients, while a few professionals work for clients who have absolutely no inkling of what it takes to design a good website.

Firstly, when clients have asked for a rough estimate of what it will cost to design the websites they want, my response leaves them looking at me as though I were a Martian. No kidding. The most common tactic they pull out at this juncture is the complaint, “But… You know… There’s this web designer who told me he can do it for only KES 40,000!” Sometimes I am forced to reply, “Then why are we here, talking about your site?” Kenyans should note that in places like the U.S., designers are paid per hour! We have a long way to go before that level of professionalism and trust is established.

We have to re-educate the “designers” who quote peanuts, download a free template, change the logo and photos in a day or two, then sit around for three weeks to give the impression that they are working hard before they go to collect the cheque. If someone in Kenya were to ask you what you do, and you said that you are a web designer or developer, they’ll give you as much respect as a form-four leaver who took a course in Microsoft Word. Almost everyone who approaches a designer starts by saying “I just want a simple website.” That is usually what precedes a long list of programming and thematic back-flips you have to do to achieve the desired result. Yet it’s still considered “simple”! Then it seems that it has gotten to a point where even the visitors do not expect much from Kenyan websites. Daima mimi ni mKenya (I’m a patriotic Kenyan), but I particularly loathe the designs of government websites.

Of course, I can openly critique them because they are mali yetu (our property), but also because of the lack of concern for quality and professionalism in web design and development. These kinds of sites that litter cyberspace give visitors absolutely no desire to stay or return. Indeed, it’s a disgrace to the profession. I have to mention that although the majority of designers are a product of their own desires, there are some honest aspiring ones who have been shortchanged. I was one of them. I attended a well-known IT college to study web design. It cost me an arm and a leg. However, what I learnt there was basic training.

They taught us how to insert tables and images in Dreamweaver, and how to drag links into the document. Period. By the time we finished the course, no one had even been taught how to upload their shoddy site. Had it not been for my constant search in blogs such as Vandelay Design and Smashing Magazine, I would have been as crappy a designer as the ones I described above.Overall, whether it’s strictly programming or designing, the element of creatively solving problems is indispensable. Along with passion and an unquenchable curiosity and desire to keep growing. So wake up.

Huston Malande is the co-founder and CEO of Skyline Design Ltd (www.skylinedesign.co.ke). It is a web development and branding company that does bespoke design for glbal, high-profile clients.