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Web Design Principles

What are the principles of design?

Design in art or print

The principles of design in art are: emphasis, balance, rhythm, contrast, movement, harmony

Emphasis: to attract the viewer's eyes to a place of special importance.

Balance: arranging the (art)work so that no one part of a work overpowers. Can be symmetrical and asymmetrical.

Rhythm: repetition of elements to make a work seem active.

Contrast: provides something interesting to break the repetitions.

Movement: the path the viewer's eye follows throughout a design.

Harmony: arrangement of elements and principles to create a feeling of completeness.

Design on web sites

To relate these tried and tested principles of design to web page design, consider what each principle brings to a page design.

Emphasis: to attract the site visitor's eye to a special part of the web page.

Balance: arranging the web page so that there are no overpowering sections of the page.

Rhythm: repeat elements of the page such as pods, heading styles to move the viewer's eye around the web page.

Contrast: provide (relevant) images to break up the page.

Movement: usually this is top left to bottom right, so provide elements to guide the site visitor's eye through the design.

Harmony: create a feeling of completeness by keeping pages throughout the site similar in look, feel and design.

 Special attention needs to be paid to other website design principles that govern the loading speed, use of web safe fonts, image formats etcetera, to achieve great web page design using the principles of art and web design.