Web Design 101

As I continue to refine and enhance my website, I will keep in mind a few Principles of Design. These will help me to utilize the design theory of Gestalt which will make my website greater and more impactful than simply the sum of the components within.

Emergence

This principle states that we attempt to make sense of a whole design before identifying its elements. This means that it is better to keep the overall design recognizeable, but it is good to get creative with individual elements. I will utilize this theory by keeping the overall layout of my design simple and similar to that of a common website, but in my pages I will add more creative, interactive features. 

Reification 

This states that our minds fill in gaps of visual information to create a recognizable object. I will utilize this in my landing page design to create a visually interesting and memorable landing page.

Invariance

With this principle, designers can create powerful reactions from viewers by making one element stand out from the rest. Our brains are particularly good at recognizing similar things, meaning we are also good at noticing what is different. I will design my call to action page or button using this theory so that it stands out and is more easily noticed by the viewer. 

Blog

I will take into further consideration my color palette on my website. Colors are a powerful way to express emotion and to utilize design principles. Soon I will implement an analogous color scheme on my website. This will give me the ability to vary my colors while keeping them cohesive and unified. To find the perfect color scheme, I will utilize some online resources such as Adobe Color and FlatUIColor.  These will give me inspiration as well as cohesive color palettes.

Planning Ahead

Using color psychology I will choose the most relevant colors for my eco-destination website. The colors green and brown both share the feeling of natural and organic. However, brown can be difficult to use on the web. For this reason, brown will be my accent color, while my theme will be monochromatic greens.  Green will be a good fit for my eco-destination website because psychologically it makes people think of life, growth, environmentalism, and organic.