Distinctive Design: A Practical Guide to a Useful, Beautiful Web

11/08/2011 · No Responses

Learn to produce a web site that stands out from the crowd

One of the web designer’s greatest challenges is to create a site distinctive enough to get noticed among the millions of sites already on the web. This book examines the bond between code, content and visuals to guide you through the factors that increase your design’s visibility, usability and beauty. Using this practical advice, even web designers who lack strong artistic skills can develop super sites that strengthen the message and stand out from the crowd.

Most books focus primarily on graphic design principles; this one shows you how to maximize and prioritize every design decision to help your site achieve its primary purpose: showcasing your content and services
Explores the bond between code, content and visuals to guide you through the factors that increase your design’s visibility, usability and beauty
Enables even artistically challenged web designers to create elegant, functional layouts that attract visitors and are user-friendly

Every web designer can benefit from this practical advice on creating an informative, attractive, easy-to-use site that gets noticed.

From the Back Cover
Standing out from the crowd

Producing website designs that stand out and get noticed is one of the web designer’s greatest challenges. Distinctive Design examines the bond between code, content, and visuals to guide you through the factors that increase your design’s visibility, usability, and beauty.

Award-winning web designer Alexander Dawson guides you through the principles that underpin beautiful, user-friendly design, with helpful hints and tricks to maximize a site’s visual performance.

Inside, you will learn:

What makes a web design distinctive
How to design for different devices
How to make your content distinctive
How design affects emotions and influences behavior
How to design outstanding user interfaces
How to promote user interaction
How to ensure your site is accessible to all users
How design is related to usability
How to optimize your site for searches

From the fonts and colors you choose to the amount of white space you provide, the ultimate goal of any website is to effectively display your services and content. By exploring the power of influential design, Distinctive Design will show you how to strengthen your message.

Alexander Dawson is an award-winning web professional and writer with more than 10 years of industry experience. Dawson spends his days running his web consultancy firm, writing professionally about web design, and giving his free time to assist others in the field.

Please visit www.wiley.com/go/distinctivedesign to download project files and bonus material.