NH Web Design Blog

PRINT DESIGN

Print design is 2-dimensional.

The print designer controls the appearance of everything.

Printed material always look the same. Once it is printed, that’s the way it stays.

When print designers add typography, they can dig through their font libraries without any restrictions.

The use of images is also unrestricted.

No matter how many images are used, anybody can see them instantly.

WEB DESIGN

The Web is interactive. Moving around is what the Web is all about.

Visitors are supposed to scroll and click.

Content is the priority. The artwork is there to compliment the content on a website.

Web content should not strain the eyes.

Good web designers look at their websites through the eyes of the targeted audience.

They try to accommodate all types of users, user platforms, and user behaviors.

Web Pages

The web designer’s main job is to make the Internet easy to use and get people the information they want. The designer is also trying to create pages that are distinctive, memorable, and engaging. The overall goal is to keep the user on a site for as long as possible.

It is foolish to try to make a web page work just like a printed page. Precise placement of elements on a web page goes against the nature of HTML.

You can’t just scan the pages of your print catalog and put up the resulting images online as a website.

Fonts

A print designer can use any font under the sun, but a web designer cannot. Web sites draw fonts from what is available on the visitor’s computer. Due to this, web designers tend to use fonts that are universal. Some of these universal fonts include Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Times, and Georgia. These fonts makes it easier for everyone to read.

Color on computers can also be deceiving. You never know exactly how a color in a web site is going to look on each person’s computer monitor.

Images

Images must be optimized for the web. Web designers have to consider carefully what images they’d like to use and be considerate of those viewers who may have a hard time loading them or seeing them.

A site that is 100% graphics will would be easy to lay out, but it would take forever to load.

A web designer must also keep in mind visitors with impaired vision or other disabilities. Accessible websites provide the maximum potential audience by allowing any Web user to access a site.

It makes sense for web designers to use text in place of images where they can, so that those seeking information can easily find it.

Accessible websites also make it easy for search engines to index them.

Imagine seeing the image on the right. What does it mean to you?

This is the same thing a person with impaired vision and search engines may struggle with. How will they interpret the words in an image?

HTML

When a designer writes a web page, they are writing in a specific language (HTML). Web designers must be proficient in HTML and CSS. They need to understand how a page is put together, how it is delivered to a browser, how it behaves, and how it is used by real people.

Websites are more like dynamic documents that can be continually improved. Having a well-designed site can improve your company’s image and increase the likelihood customers will return.