The principles of web design are applicable in every field of designing whether it is for web design or any other form of designing. They lay more emphasis on putting the design elements in an effective manner. The principles help you to achieve the results that area more pleasing.
* Balance may be defined as the accurate placement of the light and the heavy elements on the page. The balance principle will help us to achieve the target which helps us to design a better layout. It might b be described as the actual interpretation of the gravity in the design or it is the distribution of the elements in the design. The balance designs can be controlled in three main ways viz: Symmetrical balance means placing the elements in an even fashion in case you are placing heavy elements on the left side then similarly you would place the heavier elements on the right hand side. The balance designs can be controlled in 3 main ways : Symmetrical balance means placing the elements in an even fashion in case you are placing heavy elements on the left side then similarly you would place the heavier elements on the right hand side. The next criteria that you need to consider is the off balance style, in this form the design is totally unbalance. In case your website has content which is intending peoples to think then it is important to note that you can go in for the discordant or the off balance style.
* Contrast: Contrast might be defined as the difference between the similar element, further it’s not applicable only to color consider that there are several lines and one of the line is longer that other lines,then there is presence of contrast in this scenario. SO it’s very important to note that in case you are applying contrast in designs then you do think beyond color. You can use contrast by showing differences in the font size and font family. Headlines are more contrasting in nature than the surrounding text. Links also provide contrast, like the underlining and color of the link content provides room for contrast.
* Emphasis is the focal point which is provided to some content. A good web designer will determine the hierarchy to the content. It is a way of determining the elements which are more important than the others. Emphasis can be implemented by the semantic mark up, fonts and the color in the design.
* Rhythm: Rhythm is also defined as repetition. Rhythm brings in internal consistency to the website. Repetition is a good way to attract people’s attention and instigates. Probably you can repeat the headlines 3 or 4 times to generate greater emphasis. It can be also implemented by repeating the text in HTML,inserting images a several times,repeating the navigation elements in all pages.
* Unity: Unity may be defined as proximity or in other words it is the principle of keeping the similar elements together and keeping the different elements apart. Unity can be achieved through putting in your layout.
Great points. I’d like to also add something about flash. Use flash sparingly, and if you do, be tasteful about it. Remember that bots have a hard time crawling Flash, so if SEO ranking is important…don’t bother with it.
Great post, I think you should add something about cluttering and minimalism in the next post, because a lot of people who could benefit from this still have problems in those areas. But you nailed it on the head with balance and symmetry 🙂
It would be good to add some comments about the quality of the images use on a website. If photos or images on a website are out of focus then it takes away from the quality of the web design.
Good point Katie, though one of the aspects of image quality is predetermined by the nature of the medium: 72DPI to match screen resolution. Anything else is just overkill.