Good Page, Bad Page

A good overall design has the following three traits:

1. It has unity and variety.
2. It supports, but does not overpower, the message.
3. It is appropriate to the particular message being conveyed.

A basic principle of classical aesthetics is that a good piece of art has a balance of unity and variety. That is, everything fits together into a recognizable whole, but at the same time there is enough variety to keep things interesting. Most Web designers err on the side of too much variety. Unity and consistency are very important design principles, because they reinforce your site's (and your company's) unique identity. The design of a site needs to be consistent from one page to the next. No matter where someone is on your site, they should know that they're on your site and nobody else's. The current buzzword is "branding."

One of the central elements of your brand is your logo. Choose a logo carefully, and whatever file formats it exists in, make sure that the files are top quality. Once you choose a logo, stick with it and use it throughout your site. Actually, it's best to have several versions of your logo - perhaps a big one for your home page, a small one for other pages, and a 468x60 one for an ad banner. A word to the wise - if you have someone else create a logo (or whatever) for you, be sure to get the original files it was created from (e.g. Photoshop .psd files, Illustrator files), not just the final GIFs or JPGs. If you ever need to create some new graphics using your logo, you may not be able to edit these compressed files without losing quality. Also, GIFs and JPGs are not of sufficient quality for print, so if you ever need a print version of your logo, you'll be glad you have the original work files.

Unity of design requires more than a logo in the corner. Colors, fonts, column layout and other design elements should be consistent throughout every section of your site. That's one reason style sheets are so great. Not only do they allow you to change a particular element throughout a whole site by simply changing the style sheet, but they also protect you against accidental lapses, like a single paragraph somewhere appearing in the wrong font.

"The medium is the message," is a famous statement attributed to philosopher Marshall McLuhan. When it comes to the Web, however, I respectfully submit that the medium should never be allowed to overshadow the message. If people are talking about the design of your Web site instead of the message that your Web site is delivering, then you've got your cart before your horse, and little Muffy is up on that cart being furiously wagged by his tail. Weird fonts, bizarre punctuation or too many colors can call attention to themselves, and distract the visitor from your message (on the other hand, they might be just what's needed to call attention to it). Good design is like a good pair of underwear - most of the time, you don't notice it's there. An effective design simply presents your message in an attractive way. Keep the purpose of your Web site firmly in mind at all times, and resist temptations to indulge in fancy design (or fancy scripting, Java, audio, video, underwater chat rooms or any of that stuff!) for its own sake.

Of course, if your site is designed to woo clients for a Web site design shop, then you need to have all that gee-whizzy stuff, and that leads us to the third basic principle of design: Choose a design scheme that's appropriate for the message you're trying to convey. What's good design for a corporate Web site may be wrong for an entertainment site. The sets of colors, fonts, and layout techniques you choose from will be determined by the kind of look and feel that's appropriate for your intended audience. It's a lot like choosing what kind of a suit to wear. If you're a politician, you wear a navy blue or grey suit, with a plain white shirt and a solid or striped tie. Period. If you're an insurance salesman (for example), you might get away with a tan suit in the summer, and perhaps a tie pin or pocket square. If you're in the Web business, the sky's the limit - you can wear a tux jacket with Bermuda shorts and combat boots if you want. A similar concept applies to Web design. Corporate sites will stick with the tried-and-true basics (one font, one or two conservative colors), while hotshot Internet firms will choose from a wider palette.

Designing Attractive Web Pages
Have Your Colors Done