Design in other words »
"Design constructs a visual language for the purpose of communication. It organizes and gives form to a message in a way that adds value and meaning..."
Doug Bowman Stopdesign.com
"Design that communicates effectively is a beautiful thing" »
In my opinion, a strong visual focus is important. Visual focus is the combination of graphics, typography, and layout (and perhaps more) working together to guide the viewer’s eye through the experience of a website. The end result is a design that is pleasing to the eye.
Sam Royama www.designdojo.ca
The driving idea behind 'Web design from Scratch' is that the principles of good web design are based on universal common sense.
As long as you build on good design foundations, you can furnish a web page however you like and it will have a good chance of working.
This first section lays those foundations, by looking at the context of web design and the process of designing for the web.
What's special about designing for the web, and how can we do it better?
The web design process
Useful skills for approaching the design process that can help you keep focussed. Understanding the context and purpose of your design job will help you to apply excellent design discipline.
The fundamental question is: what are you really seeking to achieve and how will you know you've got there (i.e. what are your goals?)
Also, why are people really using your site, and what will make them happy (your users' goals)?
The purpose of design
The reason we design is to enable better transfer of information between content and consumer. This is the fundamental goal that it's vital to remember at all times.
How people use web pages
The way people really use web pages is different to how we think when designing them. Once we learn to understand the habits people use when interacting with web pages, we can develop techniques to help them interact better. This bit sets the scene for the Tutorials section, which contains the actual techniques.
The essence to the WDFS approach is probably best encapsulated in the article "Play to the brain's strengths", which describes in simple terms how our brains have evolved certain abilities. Understanding how to design to take advantages of these strengths, while minimising the chance for confusion, is the key to understanding all the principles.
Other online factors
Examines the special features of publishing online: What makes the web environment so different, and how those factors impact web design.
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