design basics for non-designers

@melchoyce http://choycedesign.com/2012/10/20/design-for-non-designers/

choycedesign.com

Design Basics for Non-Designerspresented at #wcphilly

Mel Choyce

• User Interface Designer at Joust.io

• WordPress evangelist

• Former Western MA WordPress meetup co-coordinator

@melchoyce choycedesign.com http://choycedesign.com/2012/10/20/design-for-non-designers/

Intro to Design

What is design?

“Design is what links creativity and innovation. It shapes ideas to become practical and attractive propositions for users or customers. Design may be described as creativity deployed to a specific end.”Sir George Cox

Design = creative problem solving.

Everything around us is designed.

What is web design?

“Web design is the creation of digital environments that facilitate and encourage human activity; reflect or adapt to individual voices and content; and change gracefully over time while always retaining their identity.”Jeffrey Zeldman

source: http://johnpolacek.github.com/scrolldeck.js/decks/responsive/

We have to adapt our designs alongsidethe web as it develops.

What makes good design good?

“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it.”Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart

Good Design:

• Is Innovative

• Makes a Product Useful

• Is Aesthetic

• Makes A Product Understandable

• Is Unobtrusive

Dieter Rams

Good Design (cont):

• Is Honest

• Is Long-lasting

• Is Thorough Down to the Last Detail

• Is Environmentally Friendly

• Is as Little Design as Possible

Dieter Rams

Why is good design important?

Good design forms an emotional connection to your users.

“People will forgive shortcomings, follow your lead, and sing your praises if you reward them with positive emotion.”Aarron Walters, Designing for Emotion

• You don’t just want your users engaged -- you want them delighted. You want them to take joy in using your site, your app.

• Emotional experiences actually imprints in our memories.

Good design establishes trust.

*Hand designed by Pavel Nikandrov from The Noun Project

A well-designed site appears much more trustworthy than a poorly designed site, especially when you are trying to sell something to your users. The more trust your users have in you, the safer they feel buying from you.

Good design makes yourwebsite easy to use.

Why Usability is GREAT:

• Users will stay on your site longer instead of coming in, looking for a few seconds and leaving.

• Task completion times will go down. Users will do what they want faster and will be less frustrated!

• Task completion will go up. Users will find what they’re looking for.

Design Principles

Grid & Alignment

• Grids are awesome because they give structure to your designs. It’s like the frame to your car. They provide a solid basis for starting projects and allow you to easily align elements with coherency and consistency.

• Different grid systems: 960, 1140, etc. It doesn’t really matter which grid system you use. Find something you’re comfortable with and really get to know it. When you feel like you’ve really mastered a grid, try another. Try using different grids for different projects.

vs

looks good

looks bad

Objects look better when aligned along a grid.

*12col 960gs

Brings order to chaos.

White Space

Guides the eye & creates balance.

Header lorem ipsum

Header 2 lorem ipsum

Cras justo odio, dapibus ac facilisis in, egestas eget quam. Curabitur

blandit tempus porttitor. Donec id elit non mi porta gravida at eget

metus. Nullam quis risus eget urna mollis ornare vel eu leo. Nullam quis

risus eget urna mollis ornare vel eu leo.

Vestibulum id ligula porta felis euismod semper. Nullam id dolor id nibh

ultricies vehicula ut id elit. Curabitur blandit tempus porttitor. Aenean eu

leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.

Maecenas faucibus mollis interdum. Donec sed odio dui.

Header 2 lorem ipsum

Cras justo odio, dapibus ac facilisis in, egestas eget quam. Curabitur

blandit tempus porttitor. Donec id elit non mi porta gravida at eget

metus. Nullam quis risus eget urna mollis ornare vel eu leo. Nullam quis

risus eget urna mollis ornare vel eu leo.

Widget Title

Vestibulum id ligula porta felis

euismod semper. Nullam id

dolor id nibh ultricies vehicula

ut id elit. Curabitur blandit

tempus porttitor. Aenean eu

leo quam. Pellentesque

ornare sem lacinia quam

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Maecenas faucibus mollis

interdum. Donec sed odio dui.

Typography

“Web Design is 95% Typography”Oliver Reichenstein,

The Web is All About Typography. Period.

When choosing an appropriate typeface...

• Think about tone. Does it fit the mood of your website?

• Is it easy to read, even at smaller sizes?

• When all else fails, steal other people’s font combinations.

How do I make it look good?

Size

* http://www.zeldman.com/

Big is beautiful. 14px+ for body fonts.

Line HeightHe lived in a little town called, Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. All the folks, young and old, knew him well by sight. And whenever he walked down the street in his high hat everyone would say, “�ere goes the Doctor!—He’s a clever man.” And the dogs and the children would all run up and follow behind him; and even the crows that lived in the church-tower would caw and nod their heads.

He lived in a little town called,

Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. All the folks,

young and old, knew him well by sight.

And whenever he walked down the

street in his high hat everyone would

say, “�ere goes the Doctor!—He’s a

clever man.” And the dogs and the

children would all run up and follow

behind him; and even the crows that

lived in the church-tower would caw

and nod their heads.

1.4 - 1.6x your font size for body text

Line Length

The house he lived in, on the edge of the town, was quite small; but his garden was very

large and had a wide lawn and stone seats and weeping-willows hanging over. His sister,

Sarah Dolittle, was housekeeper for him; but the Doctor looked after the garden himself.

The house he lived in, on the edge of the town, was quite

small; but his garden was very large and had a wide lawn

and stone seats and weeping-willows hanging over. His

sister, Sarah Dolittle, was housekeeper for him; but the

Doctor looked after the garden himself.

No more than 50 - 75 characters long

Color

What’s so important about color?

• Color subtly effects how people perceive your site and brand.

• Poor color choices can make your site unviewable by people with visual impairments.

• Colors mean different things to different cultures.

*http://www.serialcut.com/extrabold

How do I make a good color pallette?

• What emotions do you want to evoke in your users? Make a list of colors that represent those emotions.

• Draw inspiration (i.e. steal) from other people using those colors.

• Use a color service to help create a palette: • https://kuler.adobe.com/• http://www.colourlovers.com/

* http://viens-la.com/

Some color tips:Don’t go too bright. Don’t use black. Less is more.

Hierarchy

“Good visual hierarchy isn’t about wild and crazy graphics or the newest photoshop filters, it’s about organizing information in a way that’s usable, accessible, and logical to the everyday site visitor.”Brandon Jones,Understanding Visual Hierarchy in Web Design

Hierarchy is defined by previous concepts we’ve talked about:

• Grids help separate or group elements

• Typography calls out important content

• Color draws attention

• White space guides your eyes

http://choycedesign.com/2012/10/20/design-for-non-designers/

Demo

http://choycedesign.com/2012/10/20/design-for-non-designers/

Thanks.

Any questions?

@melchoyce choycedesign.com