The Principles of Beautiful Web Design

[Toon]

The Principles of Beautiful Web Design By Jason Beaird

For many web developers, myself included, the most intimidating part of the design process is getting started. Imagine for a moment that you're sitting at your desk with nothing other than a cup of coffee and the business card of a potential client who needs a basic corporate web site. Usually, a business card speaks volumes about a company's identity, and could be used as design inspiration.

Unfortunately, that's not the case with the card for Smith Services in Figure 1.1. It's black and white, all text, no character, blah. Talk about a blank canvas! So, where do you go from here? You need a plan ... and you need to contact Mr. Smith. With some critical input from the client about what his company actually does, and by gathering information about the content you have to work with, you'll be able to come up with a successful layout and design.

[Carrotnapper]

great guide toon!

[D856C]

Good post. There are a lot of innovative things you can do with business cards.

One of the more savvy things is tie the card into your website. Closely tie in the color and design to the design of the website. And give the card holder a reason to visit -- perhaps list a section which requires a code from the business card to unlock.

Beautiful means different things to different people. There is a kind of beauty where all the parts of a business work together beautifully.

[maxtermix]

Good post.

[dannynosleeves]

yeah...they have alot of great books and articles. They are just freakin expesive!

[tommylogic]

Jason has written a few articles for SitePoint.. I like this one and have had it bookmarked for a while as I refer a lot of people to it as well. Good post !

[Zaoris]

Originally Posted by Toon

The Principles of Beautiful Web Design By Jason Beaird

For many web developers, myself included, the most intimidating part of the design process is getting started. Imagine for a moment that you're sitting at your desk with nothing other than a cup of coffee and the business card of a potential client who needs a basic corporate web site. Usually, a business card speaks volumes about a company's identity, and could be used as design inspiration.

Unfortunately, that's not the case with the card for Smith Services in Figure 1.1. It's black and white, all text, no character, blah. Talk about a blank canvas! So, where do you go from here? You need a plan ... and you need to contact Mr. Smith. With some critical input from the client about what his company actually does, and by gathering information about the content you have to work with, you'll be able to come up with a successful layout and design.

So true, I spent lots of time on sitepoint.com and yes, sometimes starting a site for a client is a really pain in the as(s). Thanks for posting here, Toon.