Graphic Design: The Forgotten Web Standard

Editor's Notes

1. Intro - Designer at Carsonified So title of my talk is: Graphic Design: The Forgotten Web Standard. Talk in two chapters: 1. Observations from 2 years as a web designer. Balance of converation - Code/tech over design. 2. How graphic design can help us create ACCESSIBLE - USABLE and BEAUTIFUL sites.
2. Print background One day two years ago got drunk Then I fell in love with web design
3. Taught by Nick Harris
4. the last two years have been an interesting time. sucked into world of web. learnt code + how web industry works.
5. Amazed at community interaction, conversation, passion. forums, blogs, events, meet-ups. It’s great to see that passion and interaction on - Something that didn’t happen to me in the print world.
6. Really struck me - Code based tech chat - Semantic Markup, CSS, Microformats, Progressive Enhancement. This is all cool - we need to learn. Flip side to this.
7. 1. Obsessive, repetitive conversation over minor details h1 debate, where to use spans, site width, the fold, VALIDATION. 2. BUT EVEN *TOO MUCH* OF THE SENSIBLE CHAT CAN BE COUNTER PRODUCTIVE! EXAMPLE: Progressive Enhancement. Party glass - Richer user experience. The excessive focus on theories, tools and process rather then end product. We need to learn - but not obsess - Artists debating paint brushes??? These obsessions can hampers progression - web is new - finely tuning an old engine These debates are cogs in a much larger machine.
8. it’s interesting we tend to focus on the technical side... because I don’t think limitations come from our tools... they come from our imaginations. You can know your tools inside out... but you still need to be able to design
9. There’s a missing conversation on the web
10. I care.. we all care about web standards & graphic design contributes to this - Graphic design is your greatest weapon in creating - ACCESSIBLE - USABLE and BEAUTIFUL websites Lets take a look how graphic design can do this.
11. Layout: make your site easy to use. don’t over complicate things. design for flow. use space space to balance content. UI design - Ryan Singer. DESIGN FOR EXPERIENCE
12. Make your site engaging. make it beautiful. Make it connect Emotionally The bit I love! progressive enhancement debate. Richer user experience by design.
15. Typography contributes to accessibility and the beauty of your site. Size, style, contrast, clear titles, readable paragraphs. Attention to detail with - tracking and leading (letterspacing, line height) get creative with type - Type bases for great design! Web typography debate: it’s how we use fonts not how many we have
16. Copy is... informative engaging - factually & emotionaly Good Copy influences design Strapline example
20. Colour is beautiful and complicated. Communicates Seduces Creates Mood Learn colour theory Choosing schemes - Dulux charts
21. whole other talk photography and illustration bring a page to life use none over crap
22. web is drowned in trends make your mark by breaking away ask yourself why? flickr feed, twitter feed. Are you adding content for sake of it? Become the trendsetter stay away from galleries for inspiration - use books & your environment Go to smashing magazine - check 2009 trends - avoid them
23. Imagine your web page in print. Think outside the context of the web. It’ll make you think of things you’ve never though of before.
24. Future of web design is many things: Web design is Graphic Design. Front end code + design is part of the same job. Code is a web designer’s paint brush - use it well... but concentrate on the canvas not the brush. *Learn from past masters to catapult you into the future* Committed to web standards??? Web is beautiful place - it’s new - it needs to grow - you’re responsible for that. ***Graphic design is club - Hillman Curtis Film***
25. You might have noticed that I’ve used my slides to experiment with some graphic design. Nice way to end my talk.
26. I have a poster my influences. Grow up with david carson and neville brody recently: peepshow collective and i love dust Joseph Müller-Brockmann (these slides) searching flickr