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Graphic Design & Aesthetics . Christine Robson November 1, 2007. Topics. Reading Internationalization Review: Colors & Lines In the footsteps of others… Facebook Style Good and Bad Websites. Reading. The text on your page. Most website design is about text and Reading
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Graphic Design & Aesthetics Christine Robson November 1, 2007
Topics • Reading • Internationalization • Review: Colors & Lines • In the footsteps of others… • Facebook Style • Good and Bad Websites
The text on your page • Most website design is about text and Reading • Knowing how people read is important • Design your website to convey information simply and effectively
Reading behavior • Start upper left and work down • Text short + scanable • No long sentences • Use paragraphs • concise & coherent • ~3 sentences • Justified text is easier then ragged left • Bold headers stand out
Reading Buttons • Use Short Descriptive Text • Don’t make your users read more then they need to! Save Discard Cancel Save the file 11-01.ppt Discard the file 11-01.ppt Cancel
Internationalization • Think global from the outset • Other languages • Other cultures • Right-Left vs. Left-Right page layouts
Volume of Text • Text in Chinese often appears shorter then text in German, because German words tend to be very long, whereas Chinese characters are relatively compact. • 文本用中文经常出版更短的然后文本用德语, 因为德国词倾向于是非常长的, 但是汉字是相对地紧凑。 • Text auf Chinesen erscheint häufig kürzerer dann Text auf Deutsch, weil deutsche Wörter neigen, sehr lang zu sein, während chinesische Schriftzeichen verhältnismäßig kompakt sind.
Formatting Text • Standard Formats • Time/ date/ number reversals • Canada: 1/11/2007 • US: 11/1/2007 • Japan: 2007-11-1 • Punctuation & Parsing • “” marks can be different in different languages
Polish 1 dom 2 domy 3 domy 4 domy 5 dom'w 21 dom'w 22 domy 24 domy 30 dom'w Pluralization English • 1 house • 2 houses • 3 houses • … • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • … Japanese & Chinese • Pluralization is a different character depending on what you’re counting • 本 long, thin , narrow objects such as trees, pencils, bottles etc • 枚 thin, flat objects such as paper, bills, tickets, plates etc. • 台 mechanical objects such as appliances, vehicles etc • 人 people • 匹 small animal, fish, insects etc • Count in base 10000 not 1000 Never hard-code for any one language!
Buttons • Always use text • never use an image of text • Never hard-code the size of buttons Save Discard Cancel außer Ausschuß Löschen 之外 摈除 取消
Review: Less is More • These elements of your site should be design choices not necessities: • Colors • Lines • Boxes • Start as simple as possible then add as necessary to embellish your design • Never add something without thinking it out fully
Review: The Grid • Structure Content using hidden lines • Achieves both alignment and balance • Proximity and grouping are the key elements of your layout • Organize text and images in a rational, easy to absorb manner
A note on your Grid… • Remember that screen resolution varies • Many people are still using 800x600 • ~50% or more are on 1024x768 • Don’t forget mobile devices! • Your grid should have a degree of flexibility for screen size • Test on multiple resolutions
Review: Rules of Thumb • Stick exactly to the grid • rely on perceived groupings • do NOT rely on boxes and lines • squint at your website to find groupings and check your grid • Pick one font and keep to it • in your case match Facebook • Keep the design to ~three colors • use different saturations • use color pickers These are guidelines not rules
You never get a blank canvas • Your projects are somewhat “stuck” with the Facebook look & feel • Get used to it! • You almost never get to start from scratch • stick to the existing look and feel • Users rely on consistency to help guide them and to understand your message
Branding • Use the familiar look & feel to your advantage • Professional websites look like other professional websites • Facebook applications look like other facebook applications • Matching look and feel to conveys this information to the user
Branding Commits You • After you’ve chosen a design, you’ve branded yourself • Changes have a tangible cost of recognition • Most websites are very cautious of “upgrading” the look & feel
Visual Fashion • Element of fashion to UI design • Visual style gives the “era” of the design • i.e. Looks like windows 95 / Google • Easily confused with branding • CMU online information design
Reminder:Steal Good Design Ideas • “Good artists borrow [from other artists], but great artists steal! “ • Pablo Picasso • Good graphic designers have much more training then you do • They are artists • Feel no shame about stealing their ideas and designs
Jakob Nielsen's Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design 1. Bad Search 2. PDF Files for Online Reading 3. Not Changing the Color of Visited Links 4. Non-Scannable Text 5. Fixed Font Size 6. Page Titles With Low Search Engine Visibility 7. Anything That Looks Like an Advertisement 8. Violating Design Conventions 9. Opening New Browser Windows 10. Not Answering Users' Questions