When you first come across a new design where does your eye go? What’s the first thing you see on the page? Where in the design is your attention drawn? The answer to all three questions is one of dominance.
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When your first impression of a design is positive, when you instinctively see the design as being good, it’s likely because one or more Gestalt principles of perception are at play. When you look at a design and admire one or two of it’s parts, it’s likely because those parts are adhering to one or more Gestalt principles.
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A house divided against itself cannot stand
—Abraham Lincoln
The house Lincoln was referring to was the United States of America shortly before the Civil War. As Lincoln put it, the country was half slave and half free. Two very different messages about what the country stood for. Lincoln further said about the country
It will become all one thing or all the other.
We know now which “all” the country did become and I hope we all agree the U.S. became the right “all.”
Lincoln’s point reaches beyond the socio-political climate of the time. A house, the United States, a design can not stand when divided. Every part must be working toward the same unified goal.
In design working toward the same unified goal is the idea of unity.
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Before solving complex design problems you need to understand the basic components of design at your disposal. Much as a musician seeks to understand pitch and rhythm, melody and tempo, a designer should seek a greater understanding and control over:
Yesterday I talked about the importance of setting goals and walked through the successes and failures of the goals I set for 2009. I promised I’d give you a look into the goals I’m setting for 2010 and I’d also like to add some more thoughts about breaking down large projects into smaller tasks so you keep moving forward and complete those projects
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I’ve never cared much for resolutions. Within a few weeks you’ve generally given up on them and as the days get further from the New Year an excuse excuse seems to exist for waiting until next year. In the end little changes and you are the person you were in the moments before the calendar changed.
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Home page design can be challenging for some. Should they look the same as the other pages of your site? What content should you include? What exactly is the goal of your home page? With all the different ways someone might enter your site is the idea of a home page even relevant any more?
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The goal of visual design is to communicate. How you organize and prioritize your elements conveys valuable information about their relative importance. Visual hierarchy aids comprehension, reinforces your message, and guides your visitor through your story.
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There seems to a great misconception amongst the web agency-employing-section-of-society as to what a web designer does and in particular what all the different disciplines in web design/development are.
—Phil Thompson
A successful website is the result of many different parts working together toward a common goal or set of goals. Those parts might be the product of one or many different people, one of whom will be the site’s web designer.
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Z-index is another css property that appears simple on the surface, but has some deeper rules that can cause confusion.
On the surface it may seem as simple as a positive z-index sits in front of a 0 z-index, which sits in front of a negative z-index. While that is true, there’s more to the overall equation about how a browser decides which elements display in front of others.
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