Web Design Core Concepts

Web Design: Core Concepts

Design as Problem Solving & Core Design Principles

Don Stanley 3Rhino Media | UW-Madison www.3rhinomedia.comdon@3rhinomedia.com608 561 7097

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Spring 2013

What is Design?Clutter and confusion are failures of design,not attributes of information” -- Prof. Ed Tufte

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Spring 2013

What is Design?

Problem Solving/Sense Making

DESIGN = Communication

Clutter and confusion are failures of design,not attributes of information” -- Prof. Ed Tufte

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Spring 2013

What is Design?

Problem Solving/Sense Making

DESIGN = Communication

Clutter and confusion are failures of design,not attributes of information” -- Prof. Ed Tufte

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Spring 2013

Why Study Design?

Vision trumps all other senses when it comes to our brain. Our brain is highly attuned to the sense of vision.

Recognition and recall soar with pictures. According to John Medina, Ph.D., if we hear a piece of information, three days later we will remember 10% of it.

Add a picture and you will remember 65%!

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Spring 2013

Interfaces Impact ExperienceInterface design refers to what we see and interact with. What we see has a huge influence on our experience (Don Norman, Ph.D.)

User Experience Our experience determines if we will interact with a product or tool. And we have choices.

Consider these two text blocks …

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Spring 2013

Interface Design, UX, How We Use

Interface Design, UX, How We Use

Interface design refers to what we see. What we see has a huge influence on our experience (Don Norman, Ph.D.)

User Experience: Our experience determines if we will interact with a product or tool. And we have choices

Fact #1: We don’t read pages, we scan them

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Spring 2013

Think Like a HumanUsability Expert Steve Krug says “Don’t Make Me Think”

Think Like a HumanUsability Expert Steve Krug says “Don’t Make Me Think”

Fact #1: We don’t read pages, we scan them

Fact #2: We don’t make optimal choices, we satisfice

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Spring 2013

Fact #1: We don’t read pages, we scan them

Fact #2: We don’t make optimal choices, we satisfice

Fact #3: We don’t figure out how things work. We muddle through because it works enough.

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Spring 2013

Think Like a HumanUsability Expert Steve Krug says “Don’t Make Me Think”

Reality

Design is a Planned ProcessWeb communication involves creating an organized plan to

improve a site to better serve customers and drive desired business outcomes.”

- Leigh Duncan

4 Phase Plan, the 4Ds:1. Discovery2. Design & Dictate3. Develop4. Deploy and Determine

DON STANLEY | @3rhinomedia | Fall 2012

Discovery: Most Important DThe Law of the Vital Few –

aka Pareto’s Principle

Why do most organizations fail? Let’s take a look …

Law of the Unvital Many

Discovery: Questions to Consider

TARGET/TARGET ACTION: What is your target? Why are you creating this site? Sales? Contacts? Build Audience? Thought Leader? Build Brand?

Discovery: Questions to Consider

TARGET/TARGET ACTION: What is your target? Why are you creating this site? Sales? Contacts? Build Audience? Thought Leader? Build Brand?

KEY AUDIENCE: Please list your audiences. Who is the most critical audience you need to connect with? Please describe the most important visitors? How often are they online? What do they use the web for? Connections?

Discovery: Questions to Consider

TARGET/TARGET ACTION: What is your target? Why are you creating this site? Sales? Contacts? Build Audience? Thought Leader? Build Brand?

KEY AUDIENCE: Please list your audiences. Who is the most critical audience you need to connect with? Please describe the most important visitors? How often are they online? What do they use the web for? Connections?

PROBLEM SOLVING: What problem does your audience solve by coming to your site? What do they get?

Discovery: Questions to Consider

TARGET/TARGET ACTION: What is your target? Why are you creating this site? Sales? Contacts? Build Audience? Thought Leader? Build Brand?

KEY AUDIENCE: Please list your audiences. Who is the most critical audience you need to connect with? Please describe the most important visitors? How often are they online? What do they use the web for? Connections?

PROBLEM SOLVING: What problem does your audience solve by coming to your site? What do they get?

ACTIONS: What activities do they need to need to take to achieve their goals? (watch a video, sign up for email, download something, etc.)

Discovery: Questions to Consider

TARGET/TARGET ACTION: What is your target? Why are you creating this site? Sales? Contacts? Build Audience? Thought Leader? Build Brand?

KEY AUDIENCE: Please list your audiences. Who is the most critical audience you need to connect with? Please describe the most important visitors? How often are they online? What do they use the web for? Connections?

PROBLEM SOLVING: What problem does your audience solve by coming to your site? What do they get?

ACTIONS: What activities do they need to need to take to achieve their goals? (watch a video, sign up for email, download something, etc.)

BUILD AUDIENCE: What is the best way to share this with your key audience? How do you promote your site?

Design CRAP: ContrastCONTRAST - Making key elements stand out with color, size, shape, placement. What does contrast do?

• It provides a road map of what’s important

• It guides the users eye, swiftly and effortlessly

• It differentiates elements so readers know what you think is important

• It brings out dominant elements• It mutes lesser elements• It creates dynamism

Think google.com

Design CRAP: Contrast

Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information” -- Ed Tufte

CONTRAST - Making key elements stand out with color, size, shape,

It guides the users eye, swiftly and effortlessly It differentiates elementsIt brings out dominant elementsIt mutes lesser elementsIt creates dynamism

Think google.com

Design CRAP: Contrast

Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information” -- Ed Tufte

CONTRAST - Making key elements stand out with color, size, shape,

It guides the users eye, swiftly and effortlessly It differentiates elementsIt brings out dominant elementsIt mutes lesser elementsIt creates dynamism

Think google.com

Design CRAP: Contrast

Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information” -- Ed Tufte

CONTRAST - Making key elements stand out with color, size, shape,

It guides the users eye, swiftly and effortlessly It differentiates elementsIt brings out dominant elementsIt mutes lesser elementsIt creates dynamism

Think google.com

Design CRAP: RepetitionREPETITION - repeating the use of various elements such as color, size, layout, typefaces, image styles to convey meaning. How does this apply to navigation? Headers? Multiple pages?

Design CRAP: Contrast

Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information” -- Ed Tufte

CONTRAST - Making key elements stand out with color, size, shape,

It guides the users eye, swiftly and effortlessly It differentiates elementsIt brings out dominant elementsIt mutes lesser elementsIt creates dynamism

Think google.com

Design CRAP: AlignmentALIGNMENT - Alignment is another way of creating associations between visual elements, which help users quickly understand the relationships of objects on a page.

Design CRAP: Contrast

Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information” -- Ed Tufte

CONTRAST - Making key elements stand out with color, size, shape,

It guides the users eye, swiftly and effortlessly It differentiates elementsIt brings out dominant elementsIt mutes lesser elementsIt creates dynamism

Think google.com

Design CRAP: Contrast

Design CRAP: ProximityPROXIMITY - Elements that are related should be visually connected. Likewise, elements that are not related should be visually separated. Use whitespace, colors, backgrounds, etc.

Let’s look at an example of the principles in action.

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