Design Fundamentals

1. Design Fundamentals An Introduction

2. Outline • What is design? • Designing web pages (later...see Chapter 6) • Designing web sites (later) • Your web site design (quarter-long evolution)

3. What is “Design”? • Many elements around us are designed • Communities, buildings, landscapes, road systems, information systems, web pages, web sites, lectures… • The word design can be a noun (check out my design) or a verb (I need to design my web site) • So what does the term “design” mean? • Ever take the riverboat tour of Chicago? What is it like? What did you learn?

6. Design Perspectives on the web • “Design is about creating something with a purpose.” • “Design is that area of human experience, skill and knowledge which is concerned with man’s ability to mould his environment to suit his material and spiritual needs.” • “Design is more than just technology, it is a problem solving process in which the form of the final product must occupy a function. “

7. Is it possible to teach design? “While basic sciences rely on the scientific method and testing of hypothesis, and the arts depend primarily on intuition, design is somewhere in between; it borrows from both disciplines, developing methods and predispositions for acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes that respond to the complexity of real life situations.”

8. Design Talking Points • Design is a process that produces some sort of solution. • A design solution combines two things: • A perception of the environment held by the designer, e.g. who the audience is, how they will use your site, and • Features of the solution such as colors, page layout, fonts, animation, styles, etc. • The designer’s goal is to match the features of the design to the environment. • Note, designers all perceive the environment differently!

9. Why we go through iterations of designs • The quality of the design solution is a function of this fit between the environment and the design’s features. • It is difficult for people to describe good design. • It is MUCH easier for people (e.g. users) to detect examples of POOR fit. • “The adequacy of a genuinely designed form can only be evaluated by noting its misfits with the context in which it is placed.” (Alexander, 1964.)

10. True or false • Design can be taught. • Different people can arrive at different solutions, all of which can be considered ‘good design’. • Most DePaul students’ web sites will look similar as long as they follow good design principles.

11. Good Design Principles • Alignment • Means that items on the page are lined up with each other. • Key • Choose one alignment and use it on the entire page

12. Good Design Principles • Proximity • The principle of proximity refers to the relationships that item develop when they are close together, in close proximity. • When two items are close, they appear to have a relationship, to belong together • When items that belongs together are grouped closer together, the information is much more organized and easier to read

13. Good Design Principles • Repetition • The concept of repetition is that throughout a project you repeat certain elements that tie all the disparate parts together. • Each page in the web site should look like it belongs to the same web site, the same company, the same concept – repetition makes it happen.

14. Good Design Principles • Contrast • Contrast draws your eye into a page, it pulls you in. • Contrasting elements guide your eyes around the page, create a hierarchy of information, and enable you to skim through the vast of information and pick out what you need. • Colors, graphic signposts, or spatial arrangements • To be effective, contrast must be strong – don’t be a wimp • Exceptions • No need for contrast when you want to present a continuous text, in a novel or article

15. Good Design Principles • Contrast • Create a Focal Point • On screen, package, paper, etc • Dressing • etc