Web Aesthetics

Many of the examples of web design I provided this week come from a collection of books that I find very helpful for budding designers. The newest version of these books is available in the electronic lending library at Miami. I strongly suggest you browse it. It gives a good overview of the relationship between design decision and artist intention in web design. Your in class activity in design focuses on how to bring harmony between your intention and design.

Those of you who are struggling with creative energy on the web, should really use it for inspiration. I'd also suggest reviewing a small section of an older book, Designing Web Graphics, which discusses designing against the grid in web design. The author specifically addresses how to break out of the grid, but continue to "respect" the grid. Many of your first project designs could benefit from these readings. The Cloninger books include how to's in CSS and HTML that are helpful for people still learning these technologies.

A few of your designs required finish in the form of texture, layered colors, or unified type/font. The Fresh Styles book give you a sense for the specific silos to which a design may subscribe. By no means is the list complete, but it should help you see how much potential there is in very specific decisions about your HTML and CSS. You'll also notice how understanding the technology affords you many more opportunities that following the tempaltes and defualt layouts provided by Dreamweaver et al.