Wiley Distinctive Design: A Practical Guide to a Useful, Beautiful Web
Contents
1. The Distinction of Web Design Principles and variables of a visually appealing layout 4 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN CREATING THE IDEAL aesthetically pleasing distinctive design seems like an impos sible task to many While most web industry fields have their own methodology to improve and yield results in the layout and the structure of the content a few basic defin ing concepts underpin the whole process of forging beautiful designs Essentially the goal is to achieve maximum impact on users Within this first chapter I highlight the justifications for creating a distinctive design the variables affecting the end users and the importance of visibility In addition I provide a solid introduction to critical basic design concepts including neutrality or balance I also explain how to emphasize the right content how to prioritize and analyze content in order to clean up an interface using tools like minimalism and how to avoid conflict and inconsistencies with websites Taking You Back to Basics Within the realm of user experience complexity has become the enemy of the people Often at the most basic level the need to create more intrinsically dynamic and func tional designs causes website visitation and the users who browse those sites to suffer Although the concept of designing with purpose is nothing new how people read and recognize objects and how much attention people give to some components within a lay2. out compared to others can be summed up in the four words shown in Figure 1 1 Login Website lt j Can you see me Can you see me Can you see me Can you see me E jie Can you see me Before you can chec please enter your username and password FIGURE 1 1 Each and every element asks Can you see me Treating the elements of your website like a living breathing entity may seem rather silly at first but the visualization it produces accurately reflects the situation Just picture CHAPTER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN 5 each part of your site as someone within a crowd The loudest individuals are shouting above everyone else This clashing certainly results in quieter voices going unnoticed even if that voice is important within the project s context Gauging every object s importance against the level of noise and distraction elsewhere on the page is central to assigning a level of purposeful distinction to your pages Your users have a limited attention span and by ensuring that the objects on the page have a well balanced proportion of importance versus voice you create a distinctive and visible design that people can enjoy and browse without constraint Tip If something is visibly useful to a page assign more attention to it see Figure 1 2 Less important items on a page require less attention You have little time to impress visitors before they hit the Back button or look elsewhe
3. and invasive or abusive functionality disrupt the flow and distinction One clear example of this problem in action is the issue of repetition As users examine the distinctive regions of your site in order to associate that location and content with a specific function such as a navigation menu confusion occurs if repetition exists in another format For example many advertisers use these techniques to fool visitors into thinking that their computers security may suddenly be at risk Arguably using existing distinctive elements may yield results from individuals who progress throughout a site without thinking but the need for ethical practices in promot ing distinction takes precedence If you produce a distinctive page element that misguides the visitor that user s trust in your brand and any other distinctive elements within the site may be permanently damaged thereby turning the distinction into a negative 22 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN Important No visitor wants to endure the frustration of trying to adapt their skill set to match your site s requirements Allowing a visitor to drift among the elements of your site undis turbed requires the capability to navigate around a site brainlessly without thinking twice A user s satisfaction increases if they have few obstacles to work through and the barrier to entry is as unobtrusive or intrusive as possible so it s worth the effort In Figure 1 14 you can see h
4. between designs or pages can therefore lead to widespread confusion To quote Homer Simpson In times of trouble you ve got to go with what you know That s precisely what users do If they feel something is too hard or inconsistent and you have competition they leave to find an easier source of information Important CHAPTER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN 21 Part of the justification for emphasis within a website is to lead your visitors by the hand and guide them to the content that matters most to them Titles within page sections aim to give visitors an idea of where certain data is located images and navigation menus help visitors get to a resource they require and even conventions like the underlined link as shown in Figure 1 13 helps visitors establish whether they need to click or continue reading Hyperlinks are like portals to another world They re powered by an underline cursor and color convention by default FIGURE 1 13 The default underlined link is often depicted by a selection of browser induced trends Distinctively barrier free The problem of inconsistent design forces website visitors to re evaluate everything they know about an interface which isn t helpful because you want to keep the process as smooth and streamlined as possible but punishing your users by accident can also be a problem that many designers fail to account for Overcomplicated visuals dense or heavy content
5. different interpretation of its meaning they all play an essential role in design Figure 1 11 identifies the bond each has to the design process Simplistic psunetive Minimalistic Cleaning Reductionist FIGURE 1 11 The four cornerstones of distinctive cleaning If it isn t needed it should disappear Holistic Simplicity Simplicity is one of the most fundamental aspects of a clean and efficient user experi ence The acronyms KISS Keep it simple stupid and YAGNI You ain t gonna need it explain this principle in a highly direct method Making things overly complex irri tates users and unless you genuinely need a function or a visual representation in the CHAPTER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN 19 interface don t add it If there is a way to achieve something on the page with fewer objects elements or visual points of interest it s worth doing as the likelihood for dis traction will be minimized Minimalism Minimalism is a method that encourages simplicity by preventing the enhancement of ele ments until it is required It is about taking something of existing complexity like an existing site and stripping away every element that doesn t need to be complex This con cept aims to deconstruct and improve the site with fewer or an equal number of features of the same complexity level With simplicity you aim to strip existing objects down into their core components In minimalism
6. TER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN a gt Patience The average visitor feels a great variety of emotions when browsing a site some of which you can manipulate If barriers to entry are high the willingness to continue may be lost gt Attention Objects on a page are always vying for a user s focus and in polar oppo sition users are themselves trying to get the attention they require from objects This must be accounted for gt Loyalty By providing good experiences and reducing the levels of background noise users are more likely to return to our sites gt Trust Use of a site is based on the value of its content and how reliable users deem its source If your content is full of lies or inaccuracies the content s value is lowered gt Energy Users are expected to undertake so many activities within a page Clicking typing and perhaps even more Tiredness can work as an inhibitor when browsing the web Don t make users exert themselves These end user functions rather than controls of an interface are subjective to every individual but this doesn t mean that they can t be accounted for or measured Don t assume for example that visitors can or want to spend hours looking over a 5 000 page site filled with content Admit it You d lose your sanity if you had to scroll through them so why would you torture someone else with such a process The balance between dis tinction and the variables me
7. aphs of text and a single heading that heading s distinctive nature stands away from the page 12 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN yet if the page includes several headings none stands out This is due to how humans are naturally attracted to uncommon sights Gaining a user s eye requires a clever mix of eye candy and offsetting the layouts equilibrium If all of your content has little to no emphasis such as just paragraphs of text the read ability of that content is diluted to a neutral level Yet if you have too much emphasis such as stuffing everything into headings like in Figure 1 6 the strength you intend to attain dilutes itself Only when the critical mass is reached will emphasis and strength sustain itself Headings are given size and strength advantages by default However if there s nothing to make it unique or stand out It will have the same distinction level amp remain unbalanced FIGURE 4 6 If you place emphasis everywhere nothing stands out Before leaving the concept of balance for the moment it s important to highlight the value of eliminating or repositioning balance whenever possible The key to gaining a visi tor s attention is to provide distinctive content but neutrality is the direct opposite of this The trick to good design is to provide as much distinction as you can without push ing it too far and diluting the effect You can apply distinction in many ways including use of co
8. arning new things can be a particularly scary idea if they are forced to use trial and error to find what they are looking for One of the main reasons why most websites don t have a totally different look for every page is that visitors need to effectively navigate around a page without getting lost imagine the learning curve if every page is visually different Visitors often scan a page to proactively seek what they are interested in rather than reading a page in full as shown in Figure 1 12 They are more likely to use a mixture of guesswork and quick responsive selections to find the closest match to their needs If they don t find what they re looking for they ll return to the original starting page to try again They are even more inclined to guesswork in an attempt to speed up the results Although this erratic style of behavior may seem impossible to assist clearly defined well labeled distinctive layouts work wonders Headings are given size and by default Meres s par ag i emphasis giing Rehia rem ngs wrong evenepPraruhs gfioimg baseh FIGURE 1 12 As your visitors scan for specific keywords their focus ignores what doesn t associate If your visitors are fairly inexperienced with technology as many Internet users are they probably depend on conventions or trends recognizable objects on the page like naviga tion menus and clickable logos to help them navigate around a site Major changes
9. color and every other asset of emphasis and distinction you can include This emptiness may seem boring but it actually showcases one of the most primal and fundamental aspects of design Emptiness and space can be beautiful see Figure 1 9 for a lovely example of how an empty space could appear Such a visual representation is the epiphany of balance and a Zen state of being If anything were to be added to it the distinction would be at its strongest CHAPTER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN 17 FIGURE 1 9 This is one of the cleanest environments known to man a blank website Obviously as a web designer you are required to include content or items of interest for the visitor and this coincidently means the addition of material to your once derelict yet simpli fied blank page Clean can be very beautiful but context and richness have more value One beautiful example of simplicity in effect is the www madebysofa com site which shows that combining quality content with a basic layout can still be rich in distinction Individuals building a website from the ground up in which nothing is set in stone should take time to examine not only what options are available to provide emphasis where it s needed but also to refrain from applying stylistic graphical structural or behavioral emphasis and distinction within the web page unless absolutely sure If you can get away with simpler it may work to your users benefit Indiv
10. est case scenario and there may be times when you may think that no perfect solution exists perhaps one good solution has not yet been innovated but you can compromise those ideals to a certain extent as long as the final effect nets you the intended response Perfection isn t possible in design several factors cause a lack of con trol over the rendering canvas but that doesn t mean you can t keep improving things to reflect the experience as optimally as possible even though the web isn t print 10 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN Accessibility amp Visibility amp Usability Context Does it work Isit useful Distinction amp Aesthetic Isit beautiful FIGURE 1 4 Building a distinctive and beautiful website is simpler than it may appear Designing with Neutrality Beyond the variables I have previously mentioned relating to distinctive design and the idealistic intentions they naturally seem to evoke in giving your visitors everything with as few consequences as possible the principles of how distinction is formed relate to a range of certain design concepts that exist not only within the context of the web but also within the scope of print design Of course digital media and traditional print are quite different in their capabilities and limitations but some useful lessons can be drawn from the study of concepts that branch both disciplines One of the biggest variables that influence distinctive design and t
11. he print world alike is the concept of neutrality and the Zen like state it produces As you re still balancing within the realms of theory rather than practice it may seem surprising that neutralizing visible elements of the page and making them less visible or attention seeking plays a part in achieving distinction But if you think about it without balance chaos reigns supreme Thinking of your website in a Zen like format helps you understand that to ensure a clear and enlightened perception both in giving accurate knowledge and being easy to follow you need to self reflect upon the issue at hand As a designer you need to analyze the choices you make for the benefit of your visitors and you also need to provide a clear method of showcasing wisdom through careful planning and resourcefulness The principles of a Zen like design are gt Keep the components of your site s visibility in balance gt Consider your options wisely before you apply them CHAPTER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN 11 gt Keep your visitors enlightened offer them knowledge gt Maintain clarity and reduce noise pollution Implementing the Zen concept within distinctive design and following the ideals of a neu tral interface is relatively straightforward Designs composed of well balanced content in which the required distinctive features take precedence over less useful information allow you to draw focus to the parts of a page that requi
12. iduals adapting an existing site to make it more distinctive and perhaps more valu able to the visitor should consider reformatting all of the content back to a neutral state like plain text Otherwise you can simply examine the various individual components of your site and decide on individual changes as needed How you choose to transform the emptiness or existing construction into an elegant and optimized environment is up to you Figure 1 10 shows a basic example of how a more technical interface can be simplified What is great about distinctive design is that you can implement it progressively over a period of time or you can use it as a basis for a design built from the ground up The result of your work will be an interface that benefits more users 18 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN Dod ed tagh Waber per F Welcome to the website By becoming ZN rn J i o Before you car check our cur members center tein C emei please enter pour username and password a FIGURE 1 10 Progressively enhancing or gracefully degrading both are great design philosophies Sanitizing the interface Four primary methods accurately depict how to remove content that is otherwise deemed unnecessary from an interface in order to better portray the content that already exists Although each tends to come with a varying set of definitions as everyone seems to have a
13. ing a page using less emphasized content of various types redirects attention So far you have seen the benefits of becoming Zen like in your design approach by redrawing the balance when you feel it can improve the way information is conveyed and by balancing neutrality and emphasis which reflects the opposing sides of attention focusing In the next section I go over the more straightforward principle of simplicity It is one of the most primal methodological forces for improving the distinction of what remains visible on screen and without it things would get very cluttered indeed The Sum of All Parts Holding your visitor s attention with plenty of active elements on a page can be difficult Because distractions on a page can reduce the visibility of key information it s important to preserve the integrity of the emphasized content that already exists If adding empha sis to such content seems like the only answer to your problems never fear there is a less popular but equally powerful way to give a cluster of content emphasis That method is to take away any unnecessary clutter from the website s foreground and background think of it as spring cleaning for your visitor s benefit gt Note 16 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN With increasing techniques to provide content on demand the capability to perform such a function has become more widespread and popular A website is essentially the compo sition of its many par
14. ing your visitors happier and more comfortable with your user interface
15. le subtle methods take longer to be recognized it s quite likely that they are more reliable The proliferation of advertising that fights for people s atten tion illustrates this theory because people tend to develop a level of immunity to pat terns they recognize as negative users automatically mentally block out blatant advertisements See Figure 1 7 Your computer may be at risk If you want to ensure your registry and personal information has not been stolen or infected download this free security scanner You won t need another antivirus guard After 30 days you will need to purchase a full version for 29 95 FIGURE 1 7 An advertisement like this won t hold your attention if you know it s trying to sell something 14 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN One of the principles maintained through this book is that content must be emphasized tastefully with serious consideration about how your visitors may be affected by the increased level of awareness to one item against the lessened awareness of other con tent Remember that balance affects your content and the value it inherits Your goal is to ensure that viewers regard the obvious material on a page as useful not as a blatant spam attempt Important Negotiating neutrality When you remove emphasis from a page what remains will increase in strength Using neutrality effectively is an inspired concept isn t it In many ways it s like a talent con test Whe
16. lor whitespace and more What this means is that if you re smart enough to apply emphasis equally through various means rather than on one aesthetic point you make your content distinctive without risking the issue of over dilution Generally dilution only occurs visually with a lack of context within its implementation not just as a result of an abundance of balanced objects CHAPTER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN 13 Emphasizing the essentials If you ve been coding with HTML for a while or have any experience with producing web sites you should already know that certain HTML elements provided within the W3C specifications such as strong and em provide visual emphasis not just on the screen within the browser window with default styles that can be overwritten but in context within the content itself Taking the principle of emphasis beyond the context and restraints of the HTML lan guage providing a flourish or distinctive marker helps users recognize a point of impor tance You can emphasize a particular element in a number of ways as long as it stands out from its surroundings Because emphasis remains at its strongest when it stands with fewer competitors for attention give only essential content this critical boost in visibility Used sparingly and appropriately emphasis can draw attention quite quickly Some methods of providing distinction are quite direct and in your face other methods can be quite subtle Whi
17. n fewer people enter it s much easier to identify the most talented individuals but as the numbers increase designers rely more on comparison and elimination perhaps unjustly to give ourselves the best chance of finding the stars amongst the masses Focusing on what s on the page and what already has emphasis is easy because attention grabbing is what it intends to do But the capability to disinherit and demote enhance ments and flourishes while involving some difficult choices can both reduce the level of noise that exists within an interface and bring some stability to the page Figure 1 8 high lights how attention is spread The more neutrality you assign the more direct the effects are upon content that retains its status and levels of importance If you already have a website strip away all of the excess both graphically and contextu ally from existing emphasis Once your content sits on an unstyled and visibly similar page it becomes easier to see when you have an excess of information thereby making your distinctive content harder for the reader to identify This action could encourage you to apply emphasis more intelligently or with greater constraint By doing this you decon struct the aesthetic using reductionism a principle examined later in this chapter Important CHAPTER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN 15 Distribution of Attention 85 MNeutral Minimal Emphasis Important FIGURE 1 8 Balanc
18. n finding themselves unable to locate information that should be visible within a site it s important to guide users without limiting their interaction capabilities Reference The consequences of emphasis and distinction will be felt wherever they are placed By boosting the visibility of important content neutralizing or eliminating less relevant details and accounting for the principles that dominate your page s appearance you increase the readability and visitor awareness of the content you want to showcase Although it won t suddenly turn a poor quality site into something amazing it certainly goes a long way to improving it in a way that benefits your readers Summary The beginning of this chapter examines the slogan that depicts the need for elements to have attention so that users recognize them Can you see me speaks to them on behalf of your site so if the answer is no and it s the data your visitors are looking for some thing is amok and needs immediate attention These principles are fundamental to a site s capability to showcase distinction and empathy toward the visitor s needs Visitors devote a finite amount of resources such as time and trust to you on a tempo rary basis during their stay A distinctive design should not only look and feel better it should feel effortless obvious and self explanatory Plus because there s little additional work involved there is no valid excuse against mak
19. nerally apply to all users you reduce the chance of confusion Distinction isn t about just standing out It s also about aesthetics and providing a visual appeal to match the visitor s plentiful expectations gt Note A beautiful website engages more visitors and an unattractive website gives off the impression of unprofessionalism making users turn away as a result Distinctive design showcases and attempts to reflect the need for a balance between beauty usability and awareness within the pages unique layout The immediate beauty of a page just like human attraction is great for the short term but substance over style and the attributes that make your site great and unique are critical to a long and happy visitor relationship This may seem worrisome to some people who may feel that trying to make something beautiful unique distinctive and usable all in one package is close to impossible It s actually easier to make a beautiful website once you know how Figure 1 4 gives us a quick three step process If you build a website that is usable the content s identity will be visi ble to those who read your copy If your content portrays your site with depth and rich ness viewers can identify with these characteristics And if your site is distinctive the uniqueness and aesthetic identity can be formed around it Like with most things in life it s a case of everything in moderation Granted this is a b
20. ntioned earlier is important to get right the two relate quite heavily to each other Albert Einstein once said Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute THAT S relativity Einstein s quote is a perfect reminder that a user s experience should not be painful or unendurable to the point of feeling abandoned A visitor shouldn t feel useless in her quest for information More importantly it also shows that you can manipulate the 8 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN variables that people use to measure your work s value such as time and trust and affect the impact upon a user see Figure 1 3 for an example This is a fairly simple registration form that you may find within a site mean N m I accept the terms of this agreement FIGURE 1 3 Straightforward forms are much less time intensive than complex documents Distinctive design influences the time it takes to locate important details within a page It also sets the tone for how tedious or enjoyable finding that information is and by asso ciation causes relativity to take effect Understanding the connection between the actual amount of time visitors devote to your site and the perception of time they devote to your site provides you a rare opportunity to stand out which in turn gives visitors the desire to return Consider the amount of time you spend playing a game in compa
21. ow simple page numbering provides some sense of the site s depth to help users make basic yet informed choices The newest product is released November 2nd 2010 by Guest Author n a 445 x 75 oaa UO The latest version of our fantastic product has been released It comes with a whole bunch of new functionality plenty of bugs fixed and more If you re an existing user just visit the download section Otherwise get the free trial More details aa ea FIGURE 1 14 Page numbering within a blog helps visitors know how long an article might be When a site provides barriers to entry or an inconsistent non transitional interface the visitor is likely to become reliant on interpreting usually on a whim the exact nature or depth of the content being explored This coping mechanism of trying to stumble on what he or she is looking for usually comes at the cost of reducing the user s patience making him or her feel inferior and increasing the risk of a fast exit Consider a popular site like Amazon The sheer number of products acts as a barrier to entry as browsing without a product in mind could lead you into spending days stumbling around one category listing CHAPTER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN 23 Consequences of distinction The benefits of a user centered experience are justified within distinctive design because you ensure those who use the information on your site have access to it With visitors ofte
22. re The exact amount of time is up for debate ranging from zero points of a second as people subconsciously pre judge what they see to five or ten seconds Web professionals often forget that selective emphasis holds importance Headings are given size and strength advantages by default Whereas a paragraph of text is of a regular size and appearence until emphasis giving italics strength giving bold or strong emphasis giving both is applied through HTML elements or CSS FIGURE 1 2 A stylistic flourish within a page often depicts emphasis and strength The balancing act can be quite tricky You should analyze and self critique your methods as well as ask others to give feedback Even negative feedback is helpful actually in many cases it s more helpful than positive feedback The justification for many design choices rests upon those four essential words refer to Figure 1 1 by wielding such control over a page you ensure users find what they want or need at the point they require it 6 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN Important Time space and relativity Understanding the needs of your content is central to the concept of distinctive design but the user experience demands more than simple information visibility Although an inanimate object your content has a few primary needs that must be accounted for in the overall layout such as visibility and accessibility Many variables can affect the duration and extent of a visi
23. re attention Reducing noise pol lution on a page and giving that balance where it s required keeps distinctive content well distinctive and lets the rest be calm silent material that remains on the page but is noticed only as further page inspections occur Beautiful balance Taking the concept of Zen neutrality beyond what was previously mentioned a design that is clear in its separation of distinctive design elements from additional flourishes or extended attributes gives your design added stability The elements of your website are weighted much like those in Figure 1 5 with distinctive elements holding more natural weight and value on one side and the other content balanced on the other If the level of distinction either equals or extends beyond the neutral less unique content the power of its influence lessens The less emphasis that exists Paragraph the stronger it becomes ankak L Paragraph m eading Paragraph emanal Heading tedne J Paragraph FIGURE 1 5 Although the balance may be offset the need to complement such elements remains critical When looking at existing layouts an unnatural balance must exist between a design and the emphasis unique components within a page And just like Earth if something is thrown seriously out of whack it seems to naturally correct itself by reducing the strength of emphasis in which attention seeking content retains On a page with paragr
24. rison to undertaking a job you don t find particularly enjoyable As you spend time doing something you enjoy the focus you place on time spent is reduced much like the famous saying time flies when you re having fun The time flies ideology known as Tempus Fugit is a classic example of how variables can be manipulated to encourage continued use Information must be visible within the confinements of the page it s held in or else the distinctive focus that may be drawn simply cannot exist If you create a page that includes content or features with low visibility ike creating elements that inadvertently mini mize other elements importance or you intentionally apply a negative emphasis to cer tain content or features the content lacking visibility inherently diminishes in importance in the end user s experience and could result in users missing the message CHAPTER ONE THE DISTINCTION OF WEB DESIGN 9 Defining the ideal perspective Of the variables and principles that impact your capability to serve visitors effectively the most common failures occur as a result of either obtrusive subjectivity doing what you think is best for the end user rather than what actually may be the case or a lack of atten tion to detail Appealing to the widest possible audience is critical to underpinning a dis tinctive design The concept of a best case scenario puts forth the idea that if you aim to design in ways that will ge
25. tor s experience and while some of these are more imposing than oth ers such as pesky browser bugs and page availability some can be tied into human per ceptions and the amount of resources or self sacrifice web professionals choose to assign to a service Time space relativity and other variables speak volumes to the finite resources humans often temporarily assign to a site for the duration of their stay Each variable ties deeply into the other because they are often measured upon the perception of whether the effort exerted by visitors matches the importance level of other events going on around them Check out this list of finite resources gt Time There s only 24 hours in a day and users rarely spend all of those browsing a single site How much of this precious resource a visitor uses on your site depends on the value of the content gt Space The freedom to browse a site without inhibition is important to the overall user experience If users feel restricted or forced into jumping through unnecessary hoops they may exit gt Relativity The relationship between content and sites is important to the web Ifa site s content connects to a concept or subject introduced by another site it may gain added attention gt Money Services with defined costs have to work even harder than free or ad supported sites for attention Since the content is provided behind a paywall money is needed to gain visibility CHAP
26. ts joining together in harmony Distinctive designers need to reduce information overload and simplify the overall experience Luckily for us the web is evolv ing rapidly in ways that are helping you to achieve the design goals you set ourselves Perhaps because of its implications in search engine optimization or the assumption that more is better removing emphasis thereby stating some content is less important or objects from the page can be quite a scary prospect Simplifying the interface and maxi mizing the use of the space is critical to reduce unnecessary content removal Instead of purging the material entirely you can hide the content until necessary Methods that give content on demand a fresh appeal include gt CSS3 selectors like target or checked gt JavaScript and JS libraries like jQuery gt AJAX which has wide browser support An interface with fewer components inherently has fewer elements fighting for space and visual recognition Such an interface also encourages visitors to read the full page rather than scan it Don t be afraid to use some of the effective tools in the modern designer s toolkit simplifying the interface reducing content or emphasizing the content s value in more efficient ways clearing out any unhelpful or boring content and heuristically assigning value thereby temporarily hiding less valuable assets Beautiful emptiness Picture an empty website void of content graphics
27. you start with only what s necessary and build upon that when improvement is demanded Reductionism Reductionism follows a more scientific process than the previous two it is the idea that if something complex is taken and reduced to its most fundamental parts you can better understand its nature Within the scope of distinctive design you find that if you investi gate how particular parts of a site function you can determine where emphasis may occur From there you learn to improve the object As an example take the search engine results page Consider where your eyes are naturally drawn Decide if that s where you would like your visitor to look or if it should be changed Holism Finally it s worth noting the holistic approach which acts in opposition to reductionist theories within design Aristotle said that the whole is more than the sum of its parts and within the concept of design this often holds true Although you can reduce a site down to a basic level to understand how things function you need to visualize those parts in context of the whole page Never just assume that making a site simpler or smarter will resolve every problem because some issues result from outside influences that are diffi cult to measure This effect is magnified on the web 20 DISTINCTIVE DESIGN Being Consistent is Critical Consistency is an important aspect of a web interface With regard to your visitors and audi ence le
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