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With a focus on screen design and CRAP. Web Design. The Joshua Tree Epiphany. Screen Design CRAP. CARP (CRAP?) Principles. Contrast : making elements different enough to be interesting Alignment : creating strong lines within a page to make it more organized and visually appealing
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With a focus on screen design and CRAP Web Design
CARP (CRAP?) Principles • Contrast: making elements different enough to be interesting • Alignment: creating strong lines within a page to make it more organized and visually appealing • Repetition: making elements and page layout similar enough to unify the site • Proximity: grouping elements that belong together
Contrast Contrast makes a page more interesting and readable Key idea: • If two items are not exactly the same, make them different, really different. • Shape, font face, size, weight, texture, line, spacing, color, etc.
Contrast & Text • Text and background color must have high contrast for text to be readable • Use an interesting font face for title image • Use simple sans-serif font face for body text • Use a very simple sans-serif font face for buttons (usually small, so simple = readable) • Use contrast to help headings stand out (font face, color, border, images) • This online tool determines whether your colors have enough contrast and shows how your colors will look to color blind: http://gmazzocato.altervista.org/colorwheel/wheel.php
Contrast example Less effective More effective
Contrast example LESS effective MORE effective
Repetition • Key idea: REPEAT some aspect of the design throughout the entire piece. • Repetition of visual elements throughout the design unifies and strengthens it by tying together otherwise separate parts. • If a web site looks professional and is easy to navigate, it probably demonstrates repetition of • colors • fonts • graphic elements • navigation • page layout
Alignment • Key idea: Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every item should have a visual connection with something else on the page. • Strong alignment helps guide the user's eye, making the page easier to browse and drawing the eye to the most important parts of the page. • According to Williams: • center alignment tends to look formal and can sometimes look dull or "mushy" • strong left or strong right alignment looks more professional and clean
Proximity • Key idea: Group related items together. • Proximity helps the user identify which items go together • close proximity implies a relationship • Use placement, size, and color to group items that go together • don’t be afraid of empty space!
Video examples • C.R.A.P.- Basic Layout and Design Principles for Webpages (4 minute video demonstration)
The Big Picture 3 components of Web Design • information design • What content will the site provide? (list of topics) • How will the content be structured or organized? (outline or flow chart) • navigation design • How will the users interact with the information? (flow chart) • What buttons and hyperlinks will be used, and where will they be? • screen design • How will each page look?
Elements of screen design • Typography • Color • Design of graphic elements • Layout
Layout – Rule of Thirds Four layouts in grids that follow the rule of thirds Try dividing the page into thirds for a more interesting layout.
Layout – page dimensions • Don’t make user scroll to the right • Images & divs should be less than 960 pixels wide • Don’t make the user scroll down except for details • Logo, title, & navigation should be seen without scrolling • Keep text lines a readable width • Too wide = slower reading
Color • Key idea: Coordinate colors and keep it simple • Choose 2-3 harmonious colors and a few highlight colors • Use bright colors sparingly and purposefully to draw attention
Choosing colors • Choose harmonious color scheme from color wheel. • colorschemedesigner.com/ shows harmonies and also shows how your colors appear to color blind users • Find an existing color scheme you like. • Browse www.colorcombos.com/ or http://www.colourlovers.com/ • Start with an image(usually a photograph) and pick colors from within to generate a color scheme.
References • The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams • Principles of Beautiful Web Design, a Sitepoint article by Jason Beaird • www.principlesofbeautifulwebdesign.com/ • Designing with CRAP by Christian Montoya • Color Schemes - Mezzoblue blog • Five More Principles Of Effective Web Design - from Smashing Magazine • 4 Principles of Good Design for Websites by Andrew Houle • The CRAP Principles of Design by John Monte