After creating the project layout you can pass directly onto the creation of the design layout. At this stage, we should start with the definition of the project color gamut.
One of the ways to determine the main color in the project is a compilation of mood board. To do this, it is necessary to write down all synonyms associated with the project subject, and then type in a synonym in image search of Google or Yandex. On the basis of found images you need to write down colors that are most often found on them (what colors more). Found colors will make visual perception of our project and give users the appropriate feelings.
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To work with the chosen color and drawing up the color palette of our website, we can use the following tools:
- Color Scheme Designer 3 (http://colorschemedesigner.com/csd-3.5/). In addition to choosing a color scheme, this service allows viewing an example of how chosen colors would look on a site
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- Adobe Color CC (https://color.adobe.com/ru/). This resource unlike the Color Scheme Designer 3 allows creating palettes also on the basis of uploaded images (which, for example, could appear at us at the stage of mood board). This service has also a large archive of palettes of other users.
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- COLORlovers (http://www.colourlovers.com/). Extensive community where you can select a variety of palettes.
It is important to note that during selection of colors for palette it is always necessary to choose at least two contrast colors. Achieving the desired contrast between the colors is a necessary requirement to ensure that you have a good interaction design.
When working on the design of the main and inner pages you should remember some basic principles.
Call to Action elements
The concept of a call for an action refers to an interactive website elements such as buttons, banners and so on. These elements are drawn in such a way that a user should be sure that he wants to click them. For example, it may be a button with a call for an action (Click, Buy, Save), a bright banner with attractive offer, bright picture and so on.
This concept fits well into the principle of AIDA (Attraction Interest Desire Action).
AIDA
This term is used often in the design of main pages, pages with promos and so on, where it is necessary to push a user to a particular action such as subscription, purchase, and so on. If we translate this acronym into Russian, we get the following concepts:
- Drawing of attention
- Interest
- Desire
- Action
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Thus the principle of design, based on this concept, becomes clear. For example, bright picture, banner should attract user’s attention, accompanying message of the text should bring interest and desire in him, and the final accord should be, for example, a button with a call for an action.
But this principle does not also work alone without some others such as page view scheme (the most natural way of eye movements across the page), visual guidelines.
Page view scheme
Z-scheme of page view is often met. In accordance with this page elements are usually located as follows: logo is on the top left, menu is on the top right, information blocks, images are on the bottom left, a button with a call for an action is at the bottom right.
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Visual guidelines
Visual guidelines are decorative page elements that redirect a user’s eye to certain design elements, forms, buttons and so on. As visual guidelines an arrow, direction of user’s eye in the image, direction of index finger, everything that can point in this or that direction.
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At first image glance involuntarily follows the index finger of a man and his direct look involuntarily draws attention at first glance to the page.
The same effect is shown in the second image with overlaid heat map: in the first case direct look of a child (right in the eye) attracts us, in the second case a look of a child and his posture inadvertently draw a user’s eye to the block on the right.
Frameworks
It should also be noted that sometimes when designing the page such frameworks as Bootstrap, Foundation, Material Design Lite are used, which, in addition to ready-made design elements (buttons, input forms, and so on), offer a modular grid, CSS snippets (part of a code, makeup, which can be used repeatedly) for inserting the elements into the page (the same buttons, form elements, and so on) and markup classes, and the JS scripts for corresponding interactive elements.
Use of these libraries can greatly save time at the project development (design, markup), though at the same time it can make your website look like the others, if you use framework design elements as is. On the basis of each framework you can find a huge number of free and paid themes and pages, as well as to develop your own.
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Trends
It should not go without mention some recent emergent trends as layout and pages design.
Firstly, it is worth mentioning so-called landing pages, which imply a long page, divided into appropriate sections and introducing a user the main website content. Landing is often the only page where you succeed in displaying all necessary information, without making a user switch between pages. Landing is usually accompanied by a good design, precise and considered presentation of information, the elements of call-to-action, interactivity (counters, animation, etc.).
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We should also tell about the style of pages and remember such things as skeuomorph and flat design.
Skeuomorph
Skeuomorph is yielding its positions to a flat design for already a long time. This term means giving interactive elements as real. For example, the page layout with books in a bookshelf, design of a button as real one with the appropriate simulation of button down, the use of real textures and so on. This principle was regularly used when creating pages just a couple of years ago, but then trend changed and flat design came to the fore (Flat, Material).
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Flat design
Flat design uses a minimum of textures and forms, design creation is based on the concept of contrast, color relation and sizes.
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An important role in web design trends had the development of mobile operating systems. Most often the engine of progress are solutions of Apple company, which in their design iOS decisions first used a simulation of real objects, and then simplified everything to a flat design (Flat UI). Now Flat and Material design dominate in the web, which actively develops Google.
Good site to compare two concepts: http://www.flatvsrealism.com/
On the basics of web design and prototyping this book can be useful: Jason Beaird: The principles of beautiful web design.
The first part of this article