The Principles of Beautiful Web Design

 

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 006.76
EAN: 9780975841969
Format: Illustrated
ISBN: 0975841963
Label: SitePoint
Manufacturer: SitePoint
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 180
Publication Date: 2007-01-31
Publisher: SitePoint
Studio: SitePoint

Tired of making web sites that work absolutely perfectly but just don't look nice?

If so, then The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is for you. A simple, easy-to-follow guide, illustrated with plenty of full-color examples, this book will lead you through the process of creating great designs from start to finish. Good design principles are not rocket science, and using the information contained in this book will help you create stunning web sites.

Understand the design process, from discovery to implementation

Understand what makes "good design"

Developing pleasing layouts using grids, the rule of thirds, balance and symmetry

Use color effectively, develop color schemes and create a palette

Use textures, lines, points, shapes, volumes and depth

Learn how good typography can make ordinary designs look great

Effective imagery: choosing, editing and placing images

And much more

Throughout the book, you'll follow an example design, from concept to completion, learning along the way. The book's full-color layout and large format (8" x 10") make The Principles Of Beautiful Wed Design a pleasure to read.

Editorial Reviews

"The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is a good book to kick start your graphic-design journey. The biggest benefit that I got from this book is the knowledge to learn from great designs as opposed to just admiring them in a state of awe." - Slashdot.org

"Jason is a great writer, and the book is quite easy to read. It's put together wonderfully, including many full color screenshots and other forms of imagery that make the book a pleasure to read. I'd definitely recommend the book to anyone in Web design." - MondayByNoon

"Jason Beaird covers web design in a way that non-designers can understand. He walks you through all of the aspects of design development from initial meeting to finished product. If you are just getting into web development, this is a must read." - Blogcritics.org

"This is a thoroughly practical guide to web design that is very well written: good technical depth in easy-to-understand language with excellent illustrations and graphics that support the text. For many users it will be the only web-design text they will need. For those who want to further advance their skills and knowledge it will provide a sound foundation." - PC Update

"His "Don't just tell, show!" style makes this book accessible to everyone... It strikes a carefully thought-out balance between describing principles and illustrating them. It is clear and well structured, with practical examples in every chapter." - Mitch Wheat

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Become An Artist
Review: This book does the incredible, it actually teaches sound artistic principles such as textures and color combinations. If you did not think of yourself as an "artist" before reading this book, you certainly will after.

There are beautiful illustrations within this book so that you can actually see for yourself the artistic principles the author is using words to describe. The old cliche "a picture is worth a thousand words" is certainly true for this masterpiece.

One of the chapters I found most interesting is the one on balance. I remember taking an art appreciation class in college that talked about balance. Here's the difference though. In college it was SOO boring. It was all "pie in the sky" theory. Beaird, on the other hand, not only defines balance, but then goes the extra step of how to use the principle of balance in your own website design and even gives you examples. I like the very practical nature of this book.

As a marketer, I really liked the chapter on color psychology and how you push psychological buttons in people by choosing a combination of certain colors. This is extremely valuable information for the marketer who wants to artistically reinforce his marketing message. For example, emphasizing the bad things that are going to happen if someone doesn't buy your product or service is always stronger than emphasizing the good things that are going to happen if they do. So, if you are using fear in your sales copy to sell your product or service, you can reinforce this marketing message by choosing fear inducing colors. Cool stuff! I also liked the use of color wheels to help you pick complementary and contrasting colors. I'm terrible with matching colors, just ask my wife! So the lesson on how to use color wheels was very helpful.

Again, this book is all about the artistic side of web design and not on how to use php, javascript, or CSS.

This book is truly a work of art.

From the author of Internet Marketing-Profits That Lie Hidden In Your Website: How To Triple Your Web Sales In 25 Days

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Useful but not thorough
Review: I'm a programmer with an artistic side that is waiting to be born.

I didn't realize that web designers are actually artists bringing their talents onto a monitor screen (duh?). They go through formal training and education in graphic designs, theories, etc and they use all of that to get a site looking good. I always thought websites somehow would just look good on the front end if someone just casually work on it and as long as us backend programmers are at work then all is well (too much credit to back enders here huh?)

Anyways, I found a few interesting things in this book. The color wheel was good. I've been wondering why my color combination never work out right. The rule of 3rd is good. The different sample of websites gave me a keener way of categorizing layout types. The stock photo sites are good resources. The steps the author takes towards developing a layout is good - planining, contemplating, matching colors with company's themes/logo...I can see how the designer comes up with a layout, which is of much use.

The book feels a bit too general, however. I give it 3 stars. The first couple chapters of the book was best for me. The chapter on typeography was the least enjoyed. Some of the photoshop's "how to's" steps by step were oddly given since the book isn't about how to use photoshop. It felt like these were "fillers" of the book.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Terrific Book
Review: Beautiful Web Design gives the user an insight look into what to think about when laying out your web site. Typography, color theory, composition and more all come into play. The author of this book is great!

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great book!
Review: I love this clearly-written well illustrated book. It's well paced, increasing in complexity as it goes along. I have stickies all over and keep going through it again and again, each time finding new and useful suggestions. I have several web design and CSS books, but this one is my favorite.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Very Good For Web Developers Without a Design Background
Review: Many of my Web development students come in with a basic understanding of Web languages or programming languages, but little experience with actual design. Even those who are artists often are not familiar with the principles of design, or are unsure as to how those might best translate to the new medium of the Web. I give this book a 5-star rating because it is so instantly applicable to those who need to baby-step towards better design sense and practices. Web developers, get past your ego and consider the possibility that your stuff isn't as pretty or usable as you think it is--then pick up a few books on Web design and see where it takes you. This book is a good place to start!

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