Creating Better Web Graphic Design
Web graphic design principles are all over the web. Unfortunately, not all of them are good. All too often the web graphic design of most of the websites you see is poorly thought out, if at all and not aesthetically pleasing to anyone, with the possible exception of the creators.
Web graphic design is essentially a modern merger of web design and graphic design. Websites need to be designed. Designing them as you go along with whatever comes to mind rarely produces a good result, though all too often that is apparently what happens. Good web graphic design needs a good solid plan that is closely adhered to.
The term “graphic design” appears to have been coined by Richard Guyatt, a British designer, in the early 20th century. Piet Mondrian, an artist of Dutch origin, is often considered to be the father of graphic design. His principle of designing on a grid system is still followed today. Good web graphic design also often adheres to the grid system of design.
Web graphic design is largely an aesthetic discipline. The early web pages with text that ran from edge to edge of the screen in a standard Times typeface, and with a grey background, had no design elements at all.
It was thought that design was not required, and that the page information was the only important element. While content and information is still of overriding importance, web graphic design has become more and more important to today’s web surfers.
The best designed web pages are usually the ones that have simplicity as their basis. A cleanly designed site that uses ample white space and a restrained design effect can usually have an elegance that the all-singing, all-dancing poorly designed web pages totally lack. Google’s initial search page is a good example of simple, clean design, as is the Wikipedia pages.
The KISS principle should always be applied to any good web graphic design. This is an acronym meaning, “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” This principle states that unnecessary design complexity lessens aesthetic effect. And it was Albert Einstein who once said, “everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” He probably was not referring to web graphic design, but it fits, nevertheless.
