Yeah. I have noticed recently that the previous model of how things are done in the web design world has shifted slightly. What’s more important, it appears to be still moving in that direction, thus making an impact that will probably be visible in a couple of months. The current division on a bell curve would look somewhat like this:
So you’re designing a website and thinking : are there any universal proportions for columns, element placement and such things? Why do some websites look so good, while others don’t even though there’s nothing visibly wrong with them? Well the devil is in the details as usual, but lucky for us we have the internets and we can use the knowledge other people learned the hard way. The 960 grid system is one of those things. It’s a set of templates for both coders and designers (pretty much a template for any major software). It was initially designed as the my-own-design-aid kit like most of us do, but it has spread and that is because of two things:
Continue reading
Where do you usually start when designing a website? Pasting a logo into a blank document, building a header around it? Think about this for a second : forget the logo and header. Sure they’re the eye-candy and eye-catching things, but once in a while it’s nice to do it differently. Take the content. Paste it all over a solid background. And then play with it. No menu, no logo. Just the content, columns, tables, charts, images. Put them in an order that makes them fit into each other. And after you’re done playing with it – THEN add the header and logo. You’d be surprised by how good the content looks now. Usually, with the “normal” way of doing this, you’d make an awesome header and logo, with really great graphics that you like, but often you’ll feel like something is lacking just below that great header graphics. Maybe that is the point – try and organize the substance before the form. You know, that age-old struggle of form vs substance ? Maybe it’s not so corny after all…
I recently give a lot of thought to two things: usability of a project (be it a website) and creative communication so the ideas are easy to grasp/read for a majority of readers. The time of “pweety weebsites” is over. It’s time for thinking at least as much as the design process itself. Think what you want to say in a claim, before you type it and add a dropshadow. Analyze other successful projects and copy only what you think is important. And by that I dont mean the 30 layer header background. If it’s a business don’t add people in business suits, unless it’s the suits you’re selling. This is so overused now that for a business to stand out it just takes to come up with something different.
Think about mobile use, it’s growing at an unbelievable rate, you don’t want to be the last on the wagon do you?
And remember that form and function should be equal without one praying on the other!