Response>>Design Dump

As part of our design class I am working with some teammates on redesigning a website and creating a new "personality" for a living magazine. Never having designed for web before I've been having a really hard time even knowing how to approach it. For anyone else struggling with their first attempt at web design, this article by Todd Bertsch, President of E-volve Creative Group, was helpful and motivating. He spoke of the challenges graphic designers often face at their first attempt on the web and offered a few solutions...

1. In web design we must be aware of USABILITY.

ex. You wouldn't design a business card with contact info on the back, it's just not useful or normal. The same goes when designing a site. 

2. Unless of course your designing a site for someone of the creative sort, like a photographer or musician, you may have some more freedom to break the rules because your audience is much smaller.

3. Don't miss out on what your audience wants and expects when designing a site, don't get caught in trying to make it "so different," from all of the other sites--they look like that for a reason.

4. Find out who your audience is-age, how much web knowledge and experience, what they are looking to gain from your site, etc.

5. You don't have to necessarily agree with usability guidelines like the logo in the left, navigation panels on the top or left of the page, hyperlinks in blue...but you should still use them. They are like that for a reason. 

If you have a moment you can check out the full article at: www.designdump.com/webdesignarticle1.aspx