A presentation and discussion on webdesign, design elements, and usability by robin fay, georgiawebgurl@gmail.com and deborah stanley.

1. ILLUSION: INSIGHTS INTO
VISUAL DESIGN ELEMENTS
OF WEB DESIGN
Deborah Stanley | Robin Fay
deb2611@gmail.com | georgiawebgurl@gmail.com
Faculty Learning Community: Shift to Visual

2. VISUAL LITERACY & IMAGES: WHAT IS REAL? WHAT IS MANIPULATED?
HOW INFORMATION IS CONVEYED ON THE WEB > WEB PAGE DESIGN:
LAYOUT
GRAPHICAL ELEMENTS
TEXT
NAVIGATION
HOW DO WE DESIGN FOR THE NET GENERATION?
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

3. Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign
USABILITY
HOW DO PEOPLE PERCEIVE AND PROCESS INFORMATION ON THE WEB?
HOW DO THEY LOOK AT A PAGE OR A SITE? WHERE IS THE EYE DRAWN TO?
DO THEY READ?
WHAT EFFECT DO IMAGES HAVE?
WHAT GIVES A SITE CREDIBILITY?

4. Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign
John Kupersmith: http://www.techinlibraries.com/kupersmith.pdf
"Seen in a larger perspective, usability focuses on the
user’s entire experience with the online library: what
users bring to it in terms of perceptions, vocabulary,
and Internet conventions they may be familiar with;
how they interact with it; and how this interaction can
be improved. In this sense, it encompasses both
assessment and web design."

5. Jakob Nielsen: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
Web pages have to employ scannable text, using:
• highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting;
typeface variations and color are others)
• meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
• bulleted lists
• one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are
not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
• the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
• half the word count (or less) than conventional writing
Let's look at some specifics...
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

6. Layout
o rule of thirds
 The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine
equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-
spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements
should be placed along these lines or their intersections -- Wikipedia,
2010.
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

7. Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

8. • Layout
o focal point, for the purpose of art and design, is the focus on a point of
interest.
o Balance / unbalance: an even mix of elements create a more harmonious
website; unbalanced can create a dynamic website
o Use of white space (empty space)is the space between the elements,
e.g., space around text, images, etc. Too much white space is bad; too
little white space is equally bad!
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

9. Navigation
Navigation is the means of guiding users around a website, so that they know
how to find things. One of the basic rules of navigation is no surprises --
navigation should be relevant and logical.
Common navigational elements in a website are:
home (the front or main page), search and about/contact.
Navigation is one of the key structural ingredients of a website.
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

10. Navigation
• Google “heatmap” research: areas of the page where users look most:
http://www.rocketface.com/organize_website/webpage_hotspots.html
• People ignore the banner, as they think of it as just advertising/logo. Do not put
important info/navigational elements up there.
• People scan text, rather than read it. Don't have "click here" links -- they are
meaningless when scanning.
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

11. Navigation
• Add label tags to forms and images so they can be read by screen readers
• Number of clicks: used to be rule of thumb that everything should be reached by 3
clicks if possible. But users are now more willing to click if they can see a clear path.
• Scrolling -- good idea to keep most important info "above the fold", but people will
scroll if you give visual cues that there is more info below, i.e. make it obvious that a
section continues below the fold.
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

12. Typography: Sans serif vs. serif
o http://www.fonttester.com/
o Generally, sans serif is considered to more
readable on a web or electronic device.
Serifed fonts are generally better for printed
pages.
o True Type fonts are standard are many
computers and digital devices, which makes
design easier because display is generally
consistent.
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

13. Complementary colors reside across
from each other on the color wheel: they
are very high contrast when paired
together.
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign
Color

14. Analogous colors are adjacent on
the color wheel and they are
harmonious.They are combinations
often found in nature.
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

15. Triad or tertiary colors are 3 evenly
spaced colors on the color wheel.
http://www.colorschemedesigner.com/
Color theory @
http://www.tigercolor.com/color-
lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

16. Considerations:
• Color blindness: the inability to distinguish between certain
reds and greens
• Bright colors/high contrast combinations draw the eye and
should be used sparingly
• Text should have a high value difference between its
background, e.g., black on white
Check for color blindness:
http://colorfilter.wickline.org/
http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckURL.php
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

17. Considerations:
• Color has psychological and cultural values, too
• Color has warm and cool values
Psychology of color:
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html
Meaning of color:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/28/color-theory-
for-designers-part-1-the-meaning-of-color/
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

18. Photos
Adding photos of real people increases credibility (as long as they are not too
casual) and makes the site more welcoming. But if people look too beautiful and
model-like, that also decreases credibility.
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

19. Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign
Web Page Preferences: Baby Boomers and Gen Y: a study using eye-tracking
• people like looking at images of people's faces
• prefer one image on a page to multiple small ones
• prefer clean pages to busy/cluttered pages, defined as too much content, not
enough spacing, too many colors
• "A clean web page has little on it and is consistent."
• both generations prefer large fonts and little text
• Baby Boomers read more on a web page than Gen Y
• both generations say they prefer a search bar to many links,
but Gen Y rely on it more than Baby Boomers
• expect search box to be top right; don't notice it if elsewhere
• both generations look most at main part of page (center),
then top, then bottom least
Appeal of Web Page Layout and Characteristics Based on Age: Usability Research through Eye
Tracking at Fidelity Investments Inc. Daniel Capozzo, MIS, Robert L. Groezinger, MI, Keet-Fung F.
Ng, MIS, Marisa J. Siegel, MIS. http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-042208-
111154/unrestricted/Fidelity_MQP_2008.pdf

20. Stanford's Web Credibility Project: http://credibility.stanford.edu/
-- includes guidelines on how to make your site look credible:
http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html
• transparency
• ease of use
• professionalism
• authority
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

21. Usability Testing:
task-based, with observation and "talk aloud"
terminology
open-ended questions
card-sort exercise
observe real interactions with site
have "evidence" for decision-makers
Let's look at some examples from
UGA Libraries... evolution of a design.
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign

27. Discussion questions:
Have you designed web pages for students? How do you take into account the
visual (as opposed to textual) nature of the web?
Have you asked students to create web pages
for projects? If so, how does their work reflect
the "shift to the visual"?
Illusion:
Insights into Visual Design Elements of Webdesign