The Three Factors of Web Design Aesthetics

The fundamentals that apply to aesthetics in web design are essentially that which apply to. The pointers about to be discussed would guide you to the most efficient way to combine the different design rudiments to come up with a site that's easy on the eyes as well as visitor-friendly. The fact that needs to be understood here is that effective web design is not just about throwing random HTML tags, CSS script and images into the mix; rather, it involves applying the basics of visual aesthetics to website designing and presenting an attractive vision to visitors.

It all ultimately boils down to the following:

Balance in Web Design

It is the identical allotment of the heavy and light elements on a single page. In pure web design terms, this means that you have to tweak your page layout to achieve the desired level. This balance has to be maintained consistently on all pages of a given sight, as varying balance patterns cause your message to be somewhat distorted and the blur the visitors' association of otherwise connected pages.

There are three types of balance that can be achieved when designing a page.

1. Symmetrical: This is the simplest fashion in which you may achieve symmetry: one heavy element on the right of the layout to match another heavy element on the right, and vice versa. It is not very popular, however, as the end results looks too plain more often than not.

2. Asymmetrical: This is achieved by varying color, lighting, textures and image dimensions (and positioning) in order to achieve a balance in contrast. Ultimately, the aim is to arrive at a pleasant looking page.

3. Discordant: Contrary to what this word suggest, there may be times that one may deliberately choose, perhaps even advisably so if it suits the content matter and objective of the website. By some function of nature, discordant designs put a viewer in an uneasy state of mind and get the brain working. Hence, if your website is intended to confront people with an unpleasant truth-child labor, African blood diamonds, corrupt governance, rapidly rising crime; take your pick-and deliver a call to action to act upon that truth, you should go in for a discordant design.

Web design Contrast

There's so much more to contrast then mere colors and shades: shapes, sizes and even textures can be optimally contrasted for wonderful results. Too little of it makes your website look dull; too much would make it loud. Be careful, optimize well, and you'd have a good looking website.

Design Emphasis

One of the main purposes of design is to subtly draw attention to that which you, the designer, want to be seen. Oversimplified uniformity in any design would make for a homogeneity that would ultimately defeat the purpose of design: everything would be either too understated, or the whole design would look too busy for comfort.