Visual Design, Info Design

20 Feb 2006

Recap: Genres (1/2)

Group – reach agreement on the definition of your web site class/genre.

Individually: Find three sites that you believe best epitomize

the genre. Also, try to find at least one that categorically fits but visually breaks the genre.

Identify what “makes” this genre immediately self-apparent – regardless of entry point

Identify content types found in this genre

Recap: Genres (2/2)

Regroup tonight – discuss – reach consensus. Try to agree on one or two example sites. What do they have in common? Color? Type? Grid? Page width?

Visual Design

Kelly Goto – video Core process: design the visual interface Iterative redesign case study

Grid How does Gestalt theory play here?

Color

Visual Design : The Grid

A grid orders the elements on a page – whether the page is literal (paper) or figurative (a screen)

Paper (print) – size is known, fixed Web (screen) – size is unknown,

layout may be fixed or fluid

Visual Design : Golden Ratio (1/3)

The Golden Ratio (or the Divine Proportion, Golden Mean, Golden Rectangle, etc) is a visual representation of a number called Phi (pronouned fi) … it’s found throughout nature -- in space, physics, DNA, math, art, architecture (see Greek or Egyptian works)

The Golden Ratio is a measurement between two segments of a whole. If line “A” has two unequal parts, “AB” and “BC” – the golden ratio, 1.618 [actually 1.618033988749895], is achieved where A/B = B/C.

Visual Design : Golden Ratio (2/3)

Source: Design and the Divine Proportion

Visual Design : Golden Ratio (3/3)

Source: Design and the Divine Proportion

The Nautilus Shell Once you start

splitting a golden rectangle by the ratio, you can keep sub-splitting it down forever. The spiral this produces exactly matches the growth of the Nautilus shell in nature.

Source: Anyone for thirds?

Visual Design: Rule of Thirds Simplified Golden Mean Symmetrical design is, usually,

boring. Most designs can be made more visually interesting by mentally dividing the area (page, photo) into thirds vertically and horizontally and placing the most important elements within those thirds.

Examples: photos1, photos2

Visual Design : Examples

URLGreyHot – navigation Portfolio site – overall (see samples) eCommerce – overall (clickables?) Business – broken grid Inspiration: ZenGarden, DailySlurp

Visual Design : Resources

Feeling Your Way Around Grids Design Grids For Web Pages Designing Blog Theme Templates

Color Models

Computer monitors use additive color model : RGB Projected light

Printers use subtractive color model : CMYK Reflected light

Color – Three Primaries Red: #ff0000 or

#f00 in CSS Blue: #0000ff or

#00f in CSS Yellow: #ffff00 or

#ff0 in CSS

Color – The Secondaries Orange: #ff9900 or

#f90 in CSS Green: #00ff00 or

#0f0 in CSS Purple: #ff00ff or

#f0f in CSS

Color – The Tertiaries Yellow-Orange:

#ffcc00 or #fc0 in CSS Red-Orange: #ff6600

or #f60 in CSS Red-Purple: #cc00cc

or #c0c in CSS Blue-Purple: #9900ff

or #90f in CSS Blue-Green: #00cccc

or #0cc in CSS Yellow-Green: #ccff00

or #cf0 in CSS

Color Harmony

Analogous color: side-by-side on color wheel

Complementary color: opposites on the color wheel

Triads: where the points of an equilateral triangle touches the color wheel

Color – Importance of Value

From Lynda.com Color Principles Lecture – Relative Value

(11.110)

Color Resources

Choosing Effective Color Schemes Why Color Matters Tool: Color Harmony Chooser Browser Safe Palette

Discussion Leaders

A look at web design practice Other design resources:

Google’s Golden Triangle (“F” shape) and study press release

EyeTracking Research (blog)

Sitemaps (1/2)

Organizing content – the backbone of your information architecture

It is human tendency to organize things to make them easier to retrieve

Sitemaps (2/2)

How to learn how people think about your content Observe Visit competitor web sites Evaluate server logs Card sorts

Card sort (1/3)

List of information by topic Cards (or post-it notes for affinity

diagram) Group Name the group

Card sort (2/3)

Look for patterns – dominant organization scheme

Adjust for consistency ID categories that don’t match

May be features May just be oddball

Test the resulting patterns

Card sort (3/3)

Category refinement = taxonomy Examples:

http://eat.epicurious.com/ http://www.outpost.com/ http://www.bestbuy.com/ http://news.google.com/