Jason Beaird - The Principles of Beautiful Web Design

When my wife and I moved into our house, one of our first major projects was to update the bathroom. The horribly gaudy floral wallpaper pattern, along with the gold sink fixtures, obnoxious mirrors, and tacky lighting, made us feel like wed stepped into a previous decade every time we entered the master bathroom. Removing wallpaper is a tough job, but its even more difficult when there are multiple layers of the stuff. This was the case with our bathroom. Apparently the previous homeowners taste in wallpaper changed every few years, and rather than stripping off the wallpaper and starting over, they just covered ugly with more ugly. Ah, the joys of home ownership!

If theres one thing our renovation adventures have taught me, its that there are strong parallels between designing a rooms decor and designing a good website.

Good design is about the relationships between the elements involved, and creating a balance between them.

Whether were talking about a website or bathroom makeover, throwing up a new layer of wallpaper or changing the background color isnt a design solution in itselfits just part of a solution. While we removed the wallpaper and rollered some paint onto our bathroom, we also had to change the light fixtures, remove the gold-trimmed shower doors, replace the mirrors, upgrade the lighting, paint the cabinets, change the switches and plugs, and scrape off the popcorn ceilings. If wed just removed the tacky wallpaper and left all the other stuff, wed still have an outdated bathroom. Website design is similar: you can only do so many minor updates before the time comes to scrap what you have and start over.

Fads come and go, but good design is timeless.

Conforming to the latest design trends is a good way to ensure temporary public appeal, but how long will those trends last? As far as I know, there was hardly ever a time when marquee and blink tags were accepted as professional web design markup but scrolling JavaScript news tickers, high readability hit-counters, and chunky table borders have graced the home pages of many high-profile sites in the past. These are the shag carpets, sparkly acoustic ceilings, and faux wood paneling of the web design world. Take a trip in the Internet Wayback Machine, and look for late-nineties versions of some of the top Fortune 500 and pre-dot-com, boom-era websites. Try to find examples of good and bad design. In the midst of some of the most outdated, laughable websites, youre likely to find some pages that still look surprisingly relevant. Most likely, these designs arent dependent on flashy Photoshop filters or trendy image treatments. As you read this book, keep in mind that good design transcends technology.

The finishing touches make a big impression.

Ive heard it argued that deep down, people really love anti-marketing design. The idea is that we trust sites that have an unpolished appearance and feel amateurish. I think this argument misses the point. No matter what type of website youre developing, the design should be as intentional as the functionality. My wife and I didnt change the functionality of our bathroom with the work that we did. We just fine-tuned the details, but it made a world of difference. Some people might have been able to live with the bathroom the way it was, but I doubt youd find anyone who would say it was exactly what they wanted.

Similarly, if youre spending time developing a website, you should take time to design it. Under no circumstances should the design feel unpolished or haphazard. If you want to come off as edgy, anti-marketing, and non-corporate, then do it, and do it wellbut theres no reason to be ignorant about, or feel intimidated by, design.

Our goal with this book is simple: to present what we know about designing for the Web in a way that anyone can understand and apply. Why? Because the basics of website design should be common knowledge. We all live in and work on an internet that has been blindly covering up ugly with more ugly since its inception. Its time to break that chain and make bold moves toward better design.

Jason

If youre squeamish about choosing colors, feel uninspired by a blank browser window, or get lost trying to choose the right font, this book is for you. I take a methodical approach to presenting traditional graphic design theory as it applies to todays website development industry. While the content is directed towards web programmers and developers, it provides a design primer and relevant examples that will benefit readers at any level.