Layout and Composition

For many web developers, myself included, the most intimidating part of the design process is getting started. Imagine for a moment that you’re sitting at your desk with nothing other than a cup of coffee and the business card of a potential client who needs a basic corporate web site. Usually, a business card speaks volumes about a company’s identity, and could be used as design inspiration.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case with the card for Smith Services in Figure 1.1. It’s black and white, all text, no character, blah. Talk about a blank canvas! So, where do you go from here? You need a plan … and you need to contact Mr. Smith. With some critical input from the client about what his company actually does, and by gathering information about the content you have to work with, you’ll be able to come up with a successful layout and design.

Figure 1.1: A bland client business card

Anyone, no matter what level of artistic talent he or she has, can come up with a design that works well and looks good—all it takes is a little experience and a working knowledge of some basic layout principles. So let’s get started with the basics and before long you’ll have the foundation necessary to design gallery-quality web sites.