By Gina Apperson
I was surprised and thrilled when Jeffrey Zeldman said that Douglas Bowman’s “Minima” Blogger layout is like the timeless font Helvetica. “Minima” is a classic layout that supports whatever tone or expression the content on the website supplies. It allowed bloggers to fully express their thoughts in a way that was uniquely theirs. It layout supported individuality.
I found this part interesting because my only slight experience with web design has been through the Blogger platform.
I enjoy using Blogger because of its endless ways to customize the templates, look and design of your blog. Just by learning a little bit of CSS and HTML while having some basic design principles down, anyone could make their blog look the way they wanted to (within some limitations, of course).
My junior year of high school, I created my first customized design for my blog, which at the time included a simple header design. Over the years, I learned to add my own navigation bar, blog buttons, social media icons and more.
As I look back on this blog design process with a fresh perspective from Zeldman’s article, Understanding Web Design, I realize I thought web design focused on the visual experience more so than the usability or engagement websites can promote. I loved thinking of colors, photos or themes for my blog design before I came up with a plan to map out the site. One of my main reasons I had a blog was to design it. But if I’m focusing more on the visual appeals of a website, I am not getting the full experience intended from the author or organization. Visuals could potentially be noise that makes it hard to receive a message.
As Zeldman explains it, web design should reflect the voices and the content of the page. It facilitates human experiences. It encourages human interaction with the material. The design is not on display. It is not created to grab your attention when you first click on a page. It is there to help a person, brand or organization tell their story. It is like the sheets of paper and the columns in a newspaper: materials and structure for sending out a distinct and engaging message.
So going back into the blogging world, there have been many times I clicked out of a blog or website because the design–specifically the usability or structure portion–was not appealing. It may have been too flashy or showy. Or too simple with not enough information. If they didn’t have a search bar, I left their page. If they didn’t have an about section or navigation links, I left their page. If it didn’t feel like a natural navigation around their site, I clicked out.
Appealing blog designs combined a simple design, which made it easy for me to find their content; features like a search bar and navigation that helped me explore their site, and a hint of personality that made it memorable.
Now, if I re-design my blog or any other website, I’m going to start with the structure and usability first. It is the only way to make sure your information and content is received in an ideal and easy way. I’m going to think about the users and readers. Then, to please the graphic designer in me, add visuals that support the web experience.
Overall, from Jeffrey Zeldman’s article, I learned that web design is not digital art. It can have some artistic freedom, but there are limitations within the web experience. Web design is an art and a science. To understand it, we need to think from both sides.