Good Design

According to John Tollett and Robin Williams' article on design, there are four basic ideas that can help a design novice attain a semblance of expertise on a subject that takes many years to develop and perfect for professional designers.  Those ideas make up the acronym C.R.A.P. or "crap!" as Lynda and Karen call it.

Contrast is the first design idea in the acronym.  Contrast is a tricky thing to work out because it doesn't apply to most situations on a web page.  Designers implement contrast to catch the reader's eyes and direct them toward the meat of the story, i.e. the main material or information in the article.  The idea is to create a so-called "focal point" somewhere at the head of the presentation and use that point to help the reader identify what the goal or focus of the presentation is.  It can throw a consumer of information off if size and other elements are off, throwing their focus to another less important part of the page.  It's imperative to make sure that pages aren't cluttered.  A well-contrasted page will create a hierarchy of information, from the headline, to the article or information itself, to the links and secondary features.

Repetition is the restatement of certain elements within a page, such as repeating a color scheme or a particular font.  The point of Repetition is to tie the entire piece together and make it uniform and easy to follow.

Alignment is the unifying force within a web page.  New designers will often organize their information, links and headlines in a centered fashion that conveys no particular order of importance within the piece.  The idea is to make all text aligned together, preferably on the left, so the page will not look cluttered or unprofessional.  Alignment helps the presentation be organized and projects a certain sophistication.

Finally, Proximity has to do with the relationships two or more items develop when they are close to each other.  Intentional or not, this conveys a general sense of relativity between the two items.  For instance, headlines should be attached to their text as opposed to hovering a space above.  Space should serve a purpose, to detach information from other pieces of information, and not be random.  The goal of Proximity should be to create a unified piece.

The next time I'm working on a web page of my own, I will be considering C.R.A.P. and all of its implications.