-Execute -Plan -Purpose -Specific Function What is Design?
Jan 28, 2015
-Execute-Plan-Purpose-Specific Function
What is Design?
1. http://theselvedgeyard.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/jacksonpollock.jpg
2. http://nickross.tumblr.com/post/6044611025/jesuisperdu-neue-grafik-new-graphic-design
Design is not the same thing as art
Art Design
Design Basics for the Web
-Layout-Color-Typography
Layout
Wireframes
Visual designers use the wireframe as the basis for renderings that show the hierarchical importance and location of the elements (with each general section of the page labelled); free of any potentially distracting design treatments.
Layout
Layout
Layout
Layout
What is a grid?
-visual tool to organize information- equally sized vertical columns
Why use a grid?
-establishes standardization-increases readability and usability
Lots of content, but well organized
This slide and the next are from presentation by Khoi Vinh & Mark Boulton: Grids are Good
...because of the grid
Grid Standards
- 12 columns, this can vary- include gutters and margins it total width- 960 px wide total
Grid Example
- availability
- commonly installed fonts on mac and windows
- typefaces- sizing and hierarchy
Typography
- Either serif or sans-serif fonts are fine for body copy and headings, but sans serif fonts are still more popular for both.
- Common choices for headlines are Georgia, Arial and Helvetica.- Common choices for body copy are Georgia, Arial, Verdana and
Lucida Grande.- The most popular font size for headings is a range between 18 and
29 pixels.- The most popular font size for body copy is a range between 12 and
14 pixels.
- Header font size ÷ Body copy font size = 1.96.- Line height (pixels) ÷ body copy font size (pixels) = 1.48..75- Line length (pixels) ÷ line height (pixels) = 27.8.- Space between paragraphs (pixels) ÷ line height (pixels) = 0.754.- The optimal number of characters per line is between 55 and 75, but
between 75 and 85 characters per line is more popular,- Body text is left-aligned, image replacement is rarely used and links
are either underlined or highlighted with bold or color.
Typography
Typography
type specimen based on findings
Typography
websafe fonts
Color
- Consistency- Defined palette- Branding
Brand Colors
Design as it relates to Drupal
Drupal elements to style
-Header-Footer-H1 - H5-Body-Link-Unordered List-Blockquote-Image Style-Code- Admin Tabs
(secondary tabs)-Secondary Admin Tabs (listed under
admin tabs)-Collapsable Field Sets-Block Headers-Block Typography-More button
-"Read More" link/button-Submit Button or general button style-Input Field-Input Title style-Input Text style-Tags-Pagination-Basic Node Page Layout Style (margins)-Table Style-Error Message-Status Message-Warning Message-Help Message-Default Profile Layout-Blog title and Byline-Breadcrumbs
http://www.chapterthree.com/blog/nica_lorber/design_drupal_template_approach
Potential pitfalls
- non web-safe fonts or unlicensed fonts- background images that may need to be resized- lack of cross browser support- designing a component that doesn’t exist...yet- lack of design documentation
- NOT COMMUNICATING WITH THE DEVELOPER
Potential pitfalls
Online Tools
Firebug-a must have tool
- inspection tool- view and edit css- getfirebug.com
Firebug Demo
http://www.kurieuze.com/
random Drupal site I picked from http://www.drupalsites.net
Online color tools
- Kuler- Color Palette Generator- Colourlovers.com
Grid Tools
- 960.gs- Grid Generator- gridr buildrrr
Type Tools
- pxtoem.com- csstypeset.com- font squirrel
Demo of completed design
see my other pdf that’s uploaded to slideshare.net
A few sites with lots of web design info
smashingmagazine.comnoupe.com (sub-site of smashingmagazine)webdesignerdepot.comalistapart.comsixrevisions.com