“Good design goes to heaven; bad design goes everywhere.” (Mieke Gemitzen)
Before, we proceed with the article let’s ask ourselves.
Who are Designers?
Designers are mainly people who have created something that any regular person would read or use, or simply interact with. In a broad perspective, we all have designed something or the other at one point in our lives. In a sense, we can say that almost everyone is an amateur designer. Many of us are not professional designers simply because we do not have the professional designing resources at our hand, however a few considerations and a bit more detail about the designing aspect could make us come close to professional designers if not surpass them entirely.
Steps in Designing
The first step in the designing process is to know the kind of people that would come in touch with your design. It is best to evaluate, because that would help you better understand the things they might appreciate.
The second step is to know the purpose of your design. Once you know your target audience, you can ensure that your design would fall in line with their thinking process.
The Two Important Questions
Therefore the first two questions that you should ask yourself before delving into the delicate (delicate, not intricate) processof designing are
Who am I targeting when I design a particular thing?
What I design, would it be in line with their interests?
A few general rules that you must implement when designing nearly anything are:
Simplicity
This is perhaps the most fundamental rule that you should keep in your head when designing. The best design is one that is focused. It should be bore in mind that focus can never be achieved if you neglected the two questions we listed above.
While designing, always keep in mind not to put too much content in one place, it is always best to break it down in segments. You don’t want users reading a 1500 word article when all they needed was a concise to-the-point argument about a certain topic, right?
When you keep your design simple, it is relatively hard to flaw.
The Importance of White space
For this particular rule, I would like you to envision a book or piece of text that you ever read which had really tiny font size coupled with negligible spacing. Was it a pleasure to read? No.
Such pieces of text are always hard to read and to grasp because of over complexity. This is where the aspect of white space comes into play. White space is all about creating an opening into the tight spaces and allows open space between various elements on the page. White space mainly gives breathing space to the eyes.
Giving white space to the elements present on your webpage helps you in focusing clearly and also some room for each element to make its presence felt.
Alignment is Important
All the well-designed webpages have a proper alignment system. Most commonly, a grid system is followed. It can be noticed that all the documents which do not become an eyesore are ones that have a proper alignment implemented in them.
Improper alignment diverts the attention of people and thereby ruins the entire prospect of your content. The most improper alignment is the “staircase” one.
Consistency is Crucial
Inconsistencies are always easy-to-notice. If most of the aspects in your designing are similar but one particular headline is out-of-design, it would look odd and confusing. Consistent colors, fonts and element styles are the basics of designing. Unless, you do it on purpose to gain the user’s attention, NEVER DO IT.
Strike a perfect Color Combination
A common mistake by many designers is the usage of different colors in order to make the design look striking. There are many color combinations which strike out as odd. It is always better to know the emotions of every color and how they would look when used in combination before applying a rainbow in your text.
With these basics in hand, try out different designs. Like it is said, practice makes a man perfect. Don’t worry if your first few designs look odd. Keep the rules in your mind and try it out again and look at every design from a broader perspective.
“Design is where science and art break even.” (Robin Mathew)
Contact us for more information.
