art
You Didn’t Design This
A website made by hand, a digital artwork and a manifesto for a more creative web. Why Viola Cherchi’s project deserves to be explored, questioned and celebrated.
Every now and then a piece of work just really catches my eye and makes me stop and look closer. This is not because of obvious talent or brilliant skill or just striking visuals. It is usually because it has something to say. It wants to make you think, question your assumptions and maybe, just maybe, see things a little differently.
You didn’t design this is one of those projects.
Viola Cherchi (Vi) was one of my web design students and graduated this year from the MA in Web Design and Content Planning at the University of Greenwich. The Web Rebellion Project is her final project. I am so very proud of her ~ for the concept to start off with. For her eloquent writing of excellent content. And for putting in so much detailed work to deliver on originality as well as inclusive design.
This project is a provocative digital artwork, a manifesto and a challenge to the increasingly familiar look of the web. It asks us to question the sameness of so many online experiences. It highlights what happens when design becomes an exercise in following patterns rather than expressing an idea.
This message resonates with me wholeheartedly. As a designer and educator, I have strong views on this, of course. I believe in creativity, originality and the willingness to challenge the familiar.
I set up the inspiration section of this site to showcase creativity of any kind. And more websites should feature! Art and craft are easy to find ~ a pleasure to share ツ ~ but websites made by people who wanted to push the boundaries of the medium are rarer. Vi’s project does exactly that.
This site is a masterpiece. It is the kind of gem you hope to stumble across while browsing. It will surprise you and you might think it is broken at first glance. It isn’t. If it all feels too busy, there’s a button to switch the motion off and just read.
youdidntdesignthis.com
A website made by hand
Most websites are assembled. Putting them online usually involves pre-made choices via templates, ready-made components and tools. It is quick and tidy and it is why so many sites look alike.
Vi broke away from that process. She wrote this site by hand with no frameworks and no ready-made templates. And you can see the maker’s hands in it as you can with pottery as opposed to factory ware. The craft involved in putting this site online is just marvellous.
And this is what makes the strangeness feel like an intentional decision. Vi named this the signed strangeness. Being odd on purpose and making it clear that you mean it. It is the difference between a mistake and a signature.
Cherchi, V. (2026) Signed strangeness. The Web Rebellion Project. Available at: https://youdidntdesignthis.com/signed-strangeness/
It is a lovely reminder for anyone who makes things. Odd is fine ~ a wobbly line, an unusual or even weird choice, a style that is not quite like everyone else’s or entirely different ~ all of this is fine when it is yours. (◠‿◠)
Much more than a website, a digital artwork.
One discussion I always enjoy is about what defines the difference between art and design. When people ask me, my answer is usually the same.
Art is for self-expression. It makes a statement or expresses a specific message. Reception and interpretation are down to the audience. So success can only be measured subjectively.
Design has a clear purpose. It is made to be used by people, by any kind of person, and in particular situations. Therefore, its success can be measured against its goals.
Of course, there is an overlap between those two, but it is rare to find a project where both deliver equally well. Usually, one leads and the other follows. In the case of this site, design is not just a way of presenting the idea, and art is not an excuse to neglect the practical details.
The beautiful thing about this website is that the web is not just where the artwork appears, it is the very material the artwork is made from. A potter has clay. A painter has paint. Vi has words and code. The medium and the message are intrinsically one and cannot be pulled apart.
An aspect of time
This is a website that rewards curiosity and adds time as another dimension. When you come for a quick visit, it will give you the look and the attitude. If you stay longer, you will discover more and more detail.
Our usual browsing behaviour is to treat a website as a destination, as something to glance at, skim over, find what we look for and then move on. On this site, time is part of the experience. The texts are worth reading in full. There are little details tucked away in unexpected places that are just waiting to be discovered. Leave a page open for a while and see what happens.
Some little gems are hidden in the code and you might think that they are only for people who work in web. But that is not the case. There is a secrets page with hints and even tips on how you can peek behind the curtain. How wonderful!
WordPress… really?
YES ツ Really! Vi built this on WordPress, the tool behind a huge number of very ordinary websites. Oh, the irony (◠‿◠)
This is an aspect of the project I particularly love. Using a tool that is often blamed for the sameness to create something so very different is just brilliant. If you would like all the technical details, I’ve written about this project on Design Margins as well.
Allow yourself ten minutes to try out the following:
- Visit the experiments and check out the one about cookie banners. It might change how you look at them in future.
- Leave a tab with the website open and check if you can spot some lovely details.
- Check out the print preview. Start sending a page to print and see what the printer would see. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Get yourself lost on purpose. Type in some random letters after the address in the top bar and see what you find. (◠‿◠)
- Read the manifesto in full ~ well worth your time
And do leave a note on the Wall ~ no name, no login, no rules ツ
The more I look at this website, the more I love it. And the more time you spend with it, the more apparent it becomes how much thought, skill, and determination has gone into it. Now, of course, I know I am not a detached observer, but I am sure it deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. This is why I have had to add it as an inspirational art piece to the Inspiration Stream and tell you a lot about it. (◠‿◠)
Please do have a look. Take your time. Go with the flow.
