37signals has gotten me riled up about deviation from the holy grail of website design, the 3 column layout. You’re lucky I don’t write often here because when I do, it’s ugly. But when good design integrity is violated, my super self emerges from a smoke cloud, although in truth, no one really notices because I wear my red underwear on the inside.

Some people seem to have a distaste for design done in a 50/50 split two column layout. How can you possibly not like it based on initial confusion? Is content suddenly devalued with more than one focal area? What ever happened to interpretation and using your noggin? Do you not remember the thrill you had when you first discovered the internet with AOL’s interface that gave you websites, chatting, stock quotes and games all in one swoop? Do paragraphs frustrate you when they’re completely composed of questions that end with question marks?

Well then, you’re not alone because I’ll offer you a period. Confusion isn’t necessarily an evil in a communication-centered field like design. Many times it’ll give a piece personally—something lacking in web design. If everything you’re making feels like Basecamp, are you really saying anything?

When comparing the websites of two respectable bag companies, Crumpler and Timbuk2, it’s clear which one you’ll remember. They both sell similarly styled products, but Crumpler reeks of personally you don’t often see on the current landscape of simple design. Jakob Nielsen might come to Crumpler’s headquarters with a big stick, but you can’t forget the experience of pulling a screaming horse to see navigation. More websites could use a screaming horse.

While personally doesn’t mean everything, it goes a long way. The tension created between confusion and logical reason is one thing that makes a piece interesting and possibly memorable. If the reason behind the madness can be justified in your head, you may have an awesome character at hand—and that’s what really sells.

I welcome any design that deviates from the norm as the norm can’t effectively communicate. The norm for online design coolness is the 3 column format. It can be done well, but more often, it is abused. Instead of creating nice divisions of lemon fresh content, crud like Amazon Wishlists, iTunes favorites, digg buttons, del.icio.us buttons, and much much more fill in the grid of insanity. At this point, content must be carefully designed to not behave like bad advertising—a crime many sites are committing.

Where’s Superman when you need him?