Web designs can vary quite a bit, not just in quality and method of implementation but also in look and feel, and in what type of responses they evoke in users. The different elements that contribute to the unique impact of a web design can be broken down into layout, color and texture scheme, and typography and rhythm. When used together strategically, these three elements can create a wide variety of successful web designs.
Layout The layout of a website can help to determine not only how it's perceived, but also how it's used. Most website designs consist of a header and footer region, both of which house important navigation links and span the entire width of the screen, as well as one or more columns in the body area for displaying text, images and other blocks of links. Using several columns within the body area is great for presenting users with a variety of content options, or promoting a large quantity of thematically unrelated content. A body area that uses less columns is great for focusing users' attention or allowing them to consume a big piece of content without further navigation.
Often, depending on the specific page within a website, the number of columns that are appropriate in the body area will change. For example, a news website or online merchant may want to display plenty of different stories or products on their front page, then present the user with bigger, unbroken content on inside pages once a story or product has been chosen.
Color and texture scheme The color and texture of a website can go a long way in establishing its mood and energy. Loud, vibrant colors can be used to create a buoyant, boisterous effect that communicates high energy and a fun, easy going atmosphere. On the other end of the spectrum, subdued, low intensity colors can be used to evoke a professional, strictly business, or even sombre attitude.
While a website's layout is often dictated by its functional requirements, its color and texture scheme should be inspired by the essence of its brand. It's important to conduct a thorough brand discovery process to make sure that the right colors, textures and images are used to represent a company's unique culture and promote its business goals.
Typography and rhythm Typography can almost be thought of as an extension of the color and texture scheme of a web design. Fonts communicate personality attributes; depending on the font that's used, text can come across as authoritative, brazen, honest, formal, casual and much, much more. It's important that the font expresses the character of the website's brand without coming across as jarring or incongruent with any established visual theme.
The rhythm of a website's text, or the way it's arranged within the available space, is important too. Establishing standard margins between headers, paragraphs, quotes and other unique types of text can create a rhythm at which the user will consume the content. Strategic breaks or disturbances in that rhythm can then add prominence and weight to specific lines of text, and effect the overall look and feel of the website.
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