Posts Tagged ‘Disciplines’

Web Design Disciplines for the Modernist Designer

December 17th, 2015

Web designers these days misunderstand the word design in all its clarity. Often, web design is perceived as something that merely allows certain functions to be performed on devices. The real matrimony between design, functionality and performance. Overly simplified web design usually gets a thumbs down from the audience. Real web designers are hard to come by and are actually a rare breed now. So, what is it that makes web design so vital. Here are some principles of web design that should redefine your organization’s digital design aesthetics.

  1. Graphic Design

In case of digital interfaces, apps and websites, this visual communication with the design has to be very coherent with the theme. A visually arresting design speaks volumes about a company’s commitment to its customers. However, it is imperative that good design is followed by good programming underneath that actually power the interactive elements. Graphic designers has to interact with other designers and programmers to achieve a working design.

  1. Programming

Software engineering or coding is the essence of the web design. It is as much an art as it is a technical prowess. How we interact with the web is determined by the programming that powers the technologies we use. Programmers are known to be technical and often cannot interpret the right responses from the people using the technology. Interfaces are powered by intelligent code that bridges the human machine gap. The discipline of UX, UI and programming must coincide to create the right sense of design to the users.

  1. UX

When users interact with the device or software, the understood experiences of the user with respect to the design is called User Experience (UX). The primary element of UX is to create a consistent and appealing design for the app or software that users come to praise. Creating custom user experiences that are perceived in a positive note by the users is a challenge for today’s designers considering the dynamic environment of the web. The UX must have the capability to understand and empathize with the user in case of back end programming failures or design shortcomings.

  1. Usability

The clarity and simplicity of design is defined as the usability. The more intuitive a design is, the more interactive it will be in terms of usage. This is the ultimate test of any design that defines the elegance and efficiency of a system. This component of the user experience determines the success since the number of user or time spent is a significant metric.

  1. Behavioral Economics

Behavioral Economics is the science of deciphering what the users want and expect from your design. In terms of web design, it may refer to the words, elements and positioning of buttons on the payout. This is a complex part since you have to extract the behavioral data from the user experience and put solid research into the information in the data. Different emotional responses have to be studied, perception of users defined and product responses noted. All these have to be studied and relevant changes made to the design interface.

  1. Branding

Brands speak for themselves even in a crowd. That’s how they should always be. Designer should incorporate a language that completely defines a brand on its own in a slew of other brands. In order to differentiate a brand, they can take inspiration from the brand’s history, values, goals and mission. Both offline and online branding should be in sync with each other. Digitization of a brand is a crucial component of the user experience. Unfortunately, most big brands fail to carry over the brand’s real world legacy onto the digital arena.

  1. Marketing

Web design often ignores the amount of users that have to be bought to call it a success. A mere handful of users during the testing phase do not define the complete picture. Offline marketing efforts have to be synchronized with online marketing. SEO, SEM and paid search must be used to deliver home results. Simply building a design and expecting people to like it is an adage that’s dead long ago. Now you have to constantly improve on your design.

Disciplines of web design have to incorporate new elements with changing technologies. From smartphone to desktop, interfaces have to be crafted with an artistic sense. Delivering a comprehensive user satisfaction should always be a goal to strive for in any web design.