Basic Lessons on Graphic Design Theory

Unknown on 15:08

Would you ever imagine reading a newspaper or a magazine that has no clear structure or design and the format is misleading? You would not. The same holds true for websites as well. Unless the site is well designed, it would not help in attracting many visitors. Even the quality content would not help in such a case.
There are tons of websites out there. Do you think all of them receive the same number of visitors? Do all the websites make equal ROI? It need not be said that it isn’t so. Most of the websites are hurriedly designed and hence lack in basic structure and design. Consequently, they fail to attract visitors.
Graphic design is a process by which elements and principles of visual arts are incorporated in such a manner that it helps to achieve an aesthetically pleasing and functional effective websites. These functions may vary for every website. This is why there is no single formula for graphic design. The processes are not even consistent and would depend a lot on a designer’s attitude, personality and motives. However, there are some important factors that should be considered to ensure that the website has the right and attractive web design.
Here are some of the important points to be borne in mind while website designing to ensure the quality web design for your site and hence fetches desired results. If you do it right, it will help you to make your way to the web design world.
First impression is the last impression. It might sound too clichéd, but this still holds true in case of websites. When visitors first land on a website, it is the first appearance of the site that helps them to decide whether they want to stay on this site or move on to some other. It includes everything like- visual appeal, content, structure and relevance of the site. If a website fails to make the first impression, it will be tough scene to develop it as a brand. Therefore, it is important to work on the visual appeal and other related areas of the site. You need to ensure that your site makes a good impression on visitors.
When it comes to visual appeal, visitors always look for attractive colors, shapes and structures. Therefore, it is important to have an attractive web design. It should be simple, user friendly, easily navigable and should let visitors browse through the site without any difficulty. While designing the site, it is important to keep the target audience in mind to which the website is going to be created. This will definitely lend a user friendly element to the site.
Color selection is also very important. Use of too bright or too light colors can mar the appeal of your website. There are some specific colors that go with some particular kind of websites. Therefore, it is important to have a right color scheme for a website. This is probably the easiest element to be controlled in the graphic design. But still it is overlooked by many. You can easily make the color selection with the help of color wheel and can decide which color combination works together. But what poses difficulty is learning the color association and symbolism. Just like shapes, even colors evoke a certain behavior towards a spectator. Therefore, the target audience should be kept in mind while deciding the color scheme of the site. You can decide your website color scheme by taking help from various color theories like monochromatic, analogous color scheme, complementary color scheme etc.
A monochromatic color scheme has a simple theme that uses differences in saturation and light/darkness in a single color to give a design that is ‘easy on the eye’. It helps to provide a soothing looks to the design. The analogous color scheme focuses on one main color that is supported by two other colors. This is also a gentle color scheme and can be used to create a calming effect. This scheme can work well for blogs and certain online shops. The complementary color scheme has two colors that are opposite to each other on the color wheel. However, this color scheme can put too much strain on the eyes and hence should be avoided.
Another important aspect to be considered is the user interface. One should not underestimate the power of user interface. You should understand that the more a user can experience, learn, engage and feel part of a website, the more successful and appealing the website will be. Therefore, the site must have features like- polls, comment boxes, video tutorials, links and online games etc
Content is mostly one of the most overlooked aspects. It should be remembered that it is not only the design that matters, but also how well organized content it has. When visitors land on a site, they want to find the information or product they are looking for as soon as possible. Now if a website does not have a well organized content, it is not going to attract visitors. Nothing annoys visitors more than an unorganized website where no information is located at the right place. Therefore, it is important to have a website with a well organized content. Entire information should be available just at the place where it is supposed to be. It is always good to provide small sections of key information to users. You should also try to link up all the important information within your website design.
Another key element of a good graphic design is the line. Each of the variety of lines like straight, curve, thick, thin, broken etc has its own design function. The function of lines is to organize texts and graphics. They create a visual path that helps visitors to follow the design. That is, they provide a sense of motion to the design. It is important to select the right variety as it has a direct effect on the design of the site.
From the above discussion, it is clear that although every web site is different and has its own specific requirements, but there are some basic elements that a web design should have. These elements are must to achieve a simple, dynamic, user friendly and attractive website. The best way to come up with a good web design is to do a thorough research, read and find out what works for the different types of websites. All this should be combined with the right skills and proper web designing experience. This will ensure that you make just the right start into the web design world.