Five Elements That Contribute To An Effective Web Design

Noble, A. (2012). 8 Typography Design Elements To Consider for Print and Web Design. [online] The Daily Egg. Available at: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2012/01/24/typography-design-elements/ [Accessed 9 Sep. 2015].

You can also change your display settings. Make the text larger, or change the colors to make it easier to see the words. Learn more at http://www.microsoft.com/enable/aging/magnify.aspx. For Apple products, check your User Guide, or search for information on your product at http://www.apple.com/support. If you use Android, search for apps such as “Big Font” at https://play.google.com/store. Or try

“The 20th century was a time of social, cultural and technological revolution and change. Inevitably this had an effect on visual communication of the time.” One of the key factors in typography that I believe to be central to the development and progression of visual communication in the 20th century is the typeface Helvetica.

Typography is a crucial part of our history and has existed since the dawn of man. When humans first stepped out of their caves and into the open world, they wanted to tell stories. In order to spread these ideas, they required writing. Although various interesting scripts exist through the ages, one interesting period is from 1750 to 1300 BC. There were various types of writing in this time period, each with their own unique styles and uses, few even inspire people in the modern world. It's fascinating that countless different types of writing exist within this time span. Writings from these time periods can easily illustrate how ancient type was used and how it affects modern day.

Rudyard Kipling once said “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind” and boy I’m hooked. Throughout my entire life I have always been fascinated with typography even before I knew what a font even truly was. For the past few years I have been following the works of typographic designer Alex Trochut and his amazing work. His work can be seen on anything from famous magazines such as “TIME” and “Vanity Fair” to globally recognized names such as Katy Perry and Wiz Khalifa.

Within the first few seconds at arriving at your company’s site, many users will already have formed a decision in their mind. Visitors are very quick to pass judgment on a site after first encountering it. Many times they will not even view your brand or product before they have decided that they feel a connection or not. Through graphic design you will be able to create a website that is visually pleasing to your audience so that the audience reaction you gained through your direct marketing isn’t wasted, but encouraged instead.

The best way to explain the love and hate feelings towards one of the most recognizable typefaces of all time is best done by a joke. “So, Comic Sands walks into a bar…and the bartender says, ‘we don’t serve your type’” (Garfield, 21). Comic Sans was created by Vincent Connare, and was released by Microsoft in 1995. Ever since its existence people have questioned its purpose and aesthetic. The typeface is notoriously known for being too informal and lacks care in designing it. An example of a design flaw from a graphic designer’s perspective, is the carelessness and inconsistency with its kerning. Kerning is the adjustable space between letters or characters. This paper will take a closer look at the history of Comic Sans from the launch to twenty years later.

Those are some of the tips that can help you in building a website. If you want to choose a good web design agency, you should check the following:

Color is defined as “the quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue” (Webster’s Dictionary). Color is an extremely powerful psychological tool used across the globe. Our world would be bland and boring without the use of color in our everyday lives. Using color psychology can encourage sales, calm a crowd, and even help a person send a positive (or negative) message.

Typography, according to Preece and Wells, is the design or selection of letter forms to be organized into words and sentences for printing upon a page. Furthermore, the practice of typography goes beyond the creation of the type or the font. According to Preece and Wells, typography includes paper selection, the choice of ink to be used in printing, the printing method, and the binding process in cases where the printed material is a book.

Letters; they don’t just make up the words on a page or a screen. Forms, counterforms and volumes of shape that interact with other characters and space are important considerations in a character. Matthew Carter took the in-depth knowledge he gained of the physical forms of letters and transcribed new and ever-lasting typefaces from it to become one of the most impactful typography designers of current times.

Typefaces have a vital role in expressing any emotion along with the composition. Typefaces have personalities- cold, sophisticated, wild or friendly- which helps to establish the attitude of the design. They provide an immediate first impression that is critical to the delivery of the message. Type has the power to engage or disengage the viewer and that is why they must possess the proper character to bring out the sprit of the design.

Here, the term ‘beauty’ involves both forms, shapes and the relationships between people and the circumstances (Fukasawa & Morrison, 2012, p.110). Not that there is anything wrong with beauty in Super Normal. On the contrary, the beauty of a product can elicit positive emotions that open up the cognitive system and inspires people to find out creative solutions easily (Norman, 2002). Here is a clear-cut case (Pic.10) that illustrates the aesthetic differences between Arial and Helvetica. They both are sans-serif typefaces that are universally embraced by different applications. At first glance, they seem extremely similar. But if designers examine the characters in each type closely, the differences become apparent. Mark Simonson[9], an American graphic designer, produced an analysis of these two types, showing how much more refined design of Helvetica than that of Arial (Simonson, 2001). The primary difference between the two is the treatments of their endings. While Helvetica is vertically cut, Arial is slightly angled. For instance, the tail of the ‘a’ is gently curved in Helvetica, but not in Arial. Similarly, the top of the ‘t’ and the ends of the strokes in the ‘C’ and ‘S’ are perfectly horizontal in the former but slightly angled in the latter. The letterforms of Helvetica demonstrate exactly how thoughtfully designed they are. The typeface is uniform and structurally sound by adhering to a guide of

They both are sans serif typefaces that are universally embraced by different communication platforms. At first glance, they seem very similar. When Arial was released in 1982, it was seen as a copy of Helvetica of 1957. But if a user examines the characters in each typeface closely, the differences between them become apparent. Mark Simonson, an American graphic designer, produced an analysis of the two, which shows how much more refined Helvetica’s detailing is than Arial’s. The tail of the ‘a’ is gently curved in Helvetica, as is the first connection of the bowl to the stem, but not in Arial. Similarly, the top of the ‘t’ and the ends of the strokes in the ‘C’ and ‘S’ are perfectly horizontal in the former, but slightly angled in the latter. He also noted that the stem of Helvetica is more complex in the structure than those in Arial. The distinguishing details are so tiny that can be noticed when they are scrutinized magnified versions of each character as Simonson did. Yet it is these subtleties that constitute Helvetica a finer example of design than Arial for professionals. Functionally the two fonts are roughly equal, as both are admirable clear and considered to be Super Normal, but aesthetically Helvetica is

This all means nothing if the reader is actually struggling to read the content. There are sites out there in Internet land that have black, deep purple or deep blue backgrounds that are almost impossible to read. Some can do this well with the right sized and coloured text but they are exceptions.