Thursday, February 3, 2011
Good design, continued:
I posted a few days ago about the importance of good design. Here, have some more:
To the end of eliminating design that interferes with understanding, I would thusly suggest the following:
No fewer than three short words should fit within a column, unless they are wrapped around a graphic.
Negative space- columns, rows, and the like- should never detract from the message or cause issues with readibility.
Anything even remotely related to typography should be handled with extreme care. The difference between fonts may seem minimal but carries the weight of affecting legibility across screens and between eyes. A font that uses serifs affects the perception of the individual characters. Large flourishes and unusually complex script places less emphasis on the message and more on the delivery.
Choose colors carefully. Colors and chromatography are in and of themselves a complex matter that I don't know enough to speak authoritatively about. Suffice it to say that certain colors look beautiful when accompanied by certain other colors. Finding all of these links - or a way to calculate them - is a science, if not an art. Color can be used to make distinctions, separate space, draw emphasis, and convey messages of their own.
That's all for now. Here's a question for y'all:
What makes something pleasing to the eye?
To the end of eliminating design that interferes with understanding, I would thusly suggest the following:
No fewer than three short words should fit within a column, unless they are wrapped around a graphic.
Negative space- columns, rows, and the like- should never detract from the message or cause issues with readibility.
Anything even remotely related to typography should be handled with extreme care. The difference between fonts may seem minimal but carries the weight of affecting legibility across screens and between eyes. A font that uses serifs affects the perception of the individual characters. Large flourishes and unusually complex script places less emphasis on the message and more on the delivery.
Choose colors carefully. Colors and chromatography are in and of themselves a complex matter that I don't know enough to speak authoritatively about. Suffice it to say that certain colors look beautiful when accompanied by certain other colors. Finding all of these links - or a way to calculate them - is a science, if not an art. Color can be used to make distinctions, separate space, draw emphasis, and convey messages of their own.
That's all for now. Here's a question for y'all:
What makes something pleasing to the eye?
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CONTRASTING COLORS AND ZIG-ZAGS EVERYWHERE. Actually i'm more partial to very neutral colors when it comes to designs. Either that or to have one dominant color with the rest accenting the dominant one.
ReplyDeleteSimplistic, yet easy to look at.
ReplyDeleteyou should include some graphics in this, just like an actual comparison between serf, sans-serif characters up close, examples of graphics. Nothing's like showing a point.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to plug DejaVu fonts, I'm a stickler for open source work.
It depends on the eye, really.
ReplyDeleteA background/flyer that is interesting enough to attract my attention, yet simple and quiet enough to not drag my eye to it.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, easy to read text that has a good contrast with the BG color, and uncluttered easy to navigate side bars.
beauty is in the eye of the beer holder?
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work :)
ReplyDeletebrightness
ReplyDeleteSimplisity man.
ReplyDeleteI love the dark colors and light fonts, seems like most people are doing that already :)
ReplyDeleteIf I knew, I would make my blog that way. In any case, I am messing around with colors on mine, and I hope that it is not annoying. I have had some people say they like it but others said that pink is too bright/contrasting to my background. I wonder if blue and purple are too dark, but I used them as well.
ReplyDeleteOh well, I have a setting to change my page to white background and black text if it's bad.