Understanding Web Design

Web design has gradually become one of the most important parts of graphic design.  Graphic design used to deal primarily with written text and photographs.  But graphic design has moved well beyond the traditional print format.  These days, a graphic design artist is just as likely to work solely on a computer then with a pencil and sketchpad.  If you are not familiar with the fundamentals of web design, here is a brief overview that will give you some insight into the basics of Web design.

One aspect of Web design that many new graphic design artists tend to overlook is the fact that the best kind of web design is, that which is focused primarily on content.  When it comes to the best web design, content is always king. Although it may be attempting to fill a Web site with all the latest features, bells and whistles, remember that the web site is there to serve.  Your job as a graphic design artist is to build the best Web site.  What makes a good web site? The best kind of websites are those that are naturally intuitive, easy to navigate, aesthetically pleasing on the eye, and allow the user to easily get the information they need.  This is not always as easy as it sounds.  Building a web site that is easy to read and clear can be surprisingly difficult to achieve if you don’t understand the fundamentals of good web design.

When building a good web site, your goal is to make it easy for the user to find the information they need.  This means the use of many descriptive titles for each page; subtitles are also a good idea.  Provide an easier way for users to move between the home page and other pages, and make it easy for the user to return to the home page no matter how far they’ve traveled. Connecting all the different pages on the Web site creates the feeling of unity and order. In general, you should try to keep your page under 100K. Anything higher will make it difficult for some users to navigate the page with ease.  If you offer any downloads on your web site, make sure you label them if they are higher than 100k.

Here are some more fundamentals of good web site design.  You should always construct your Web pages so that there is information at the top of the page.  This will keep the visitor reading and engaged while the bottom of the page loads.  A good load time with a medium high-speed connection should be about ten to fifteen seconds.  If your Web site has more than thirty pages, you should provide a search option so that users can easily find the information they’re looking for.  In general, keep the graphics to a minimum.  A clean, crisp design is always in style.

Before launching the Web site, make sure to test it for any errors or technical issues. The easiest way to do this is to try out the Web site on numerous different computers, browsers and platforms. Your goal in web design is to make the web site as accessible as possible. Sometimes, it can be difficult to achieve this, especially with so many competing platforms and web browsers. But it is definitely possible to make a Web site work on a variety of platforms, although it may make your job a little harder. Make sure to provide at least one method for feedback, whether it is an email address or a reply form, so that visitors can describe their experiences on the Web site and possibly even report any problems.

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