ALTAVIA SPINDIGITAL

*Application des principes du design d’intérieur au Web

Vu sur : smashingmagazine.com

Web, industrial, interior… You name it and there are designers for it. We’re all trained in our particular areas (as we should be), but it would do us some good sometimes to look beyond our borders for new approaches to design problems. For a fresh perspective, here we’ll apply several principles of interior design to Web design and see what ideas would help change some of our stuck-in-a-rut design practices.

[Offtopic: by the way, have you ever visited Smashing Magazine's List of tags? There might be something interesting for you.]

Balance

How It Works

In interior design, balance breaks down into two kinds: formal and informal.

Formal balance is simple. It is achieved in a room when objects on one side of a room are a mirror-image of the other side of the room. It focuses on symmetry (creating a mirrored effect) and is the easiest to create — just think of two nightstands on either side of a bed or two sconces on either side of a fireplace. However, it can become overwhelming with too many objects or a busy color palette. Too much can make a good design concept ugly.

Informal balance is an asymmetrical approach based on visual weight. You don’t have to use identical objects to achieve balance; rather, use objects that are different but have similar visual “weight.” For example, you could balance a large couch by putting a large TV in the same room. In Web design, we also seek balance: large type can balance large imagery. Play with informal balance; it can lend intrigue to a seemingly simple design and add quirkiness to a vintage look.

Why It’s Important

Balance is one of the first things we notice in a design, often subconsciously. If something seems off-kilter, it may have to do with balance, and it can be difficult to move on and appreciate the design’s other aspects. Balancing color, images and textures gives a look of completion to a design and shows the user that you have an eye for detail.

Hint for Designers

Balance isn’t limited to being either symmetrical or asymmetrical. Try radial balance too: center a circular image and add smaller images “radiating” away from it (an example from interior design would be a circular dining table and chairs). Radial balance designates a focal point and almost effortlessly provides for a sense of rhythm or momentum.

Examples

Travis Gertz Experimentationalism
Here, the designer uses visual weight to achieve balance. The word “analog” is extremely big, but it balances out the larger width and length of the camera image — a point-size smaller and the word would have been lost. Below the image is smaller type, but it works because the paragraph spans the same width and height as the image.

Ethno Port Ponzan
Ethno Port Ponzan’s design uses radial balance, having the sub-page links placed on rings around a central focus. Though the links are placed at different distances, the ring design lends the balance because they lay equidistantly from the center logo. Radial balance can be one of the easiest, fastest methods of achieving balance, and Ethno Port Ponzan is an example of using such balance successfully.

Zee
This is asymmetrical balance using text as the design. Here “Always in the loop” is the focal point, and the designer uses the visual weight of heavier fonts, large punctuation and smaller images for balance.

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Vu sur : wireframeshowcase.com