I’m learning web design. When I design a page I ask my friends to tell me their opinions about it and I always get the same answer: it’s dull and boring. They say my designs are nice but very dull, static and boring. I always get this answer. Then I tried to Google this with the query “responsive design” and I found that responsive design is something completely different to my problem.
So my questions are:
1- What are the technical terms for dull/boring designs? I need this so I can search on Google on how to fix my problem.
2- Can you please give me resources to tutorials on the web that teaches minimalistic, clean and non-dull designs?
Edit:
I think my problem can possibly be fixed by proper use of color and typography, but I don’t know how I can learn to have a ‘taste’ or if this can even be learned. 🙁Edit2:
I always see very basic single-page website that are extremely basic but look so rich and exciting. I think the secret is always about color and typography.Edit3: I’m particularly passionate about designs like these:
Answer
The secret is the ability to see. You are right … it’s not something you learn by reading a book. It’s something you develop by looking at good design. Looking at my own work, I developed this ability to see in the period 2003-2010. That’s 7 years for a self taught designer like me. I guess you can speed up the process by doing what I did. I started deconstructing designs that I like. I measured spaces, extracted color schemes, font faces and in general I was searching for the “magic” in each design that I liked. What I found as “THE MAGIC” is geometry and proportion. That’s all you have to understand. Proper division of space and achieving proper “weight” of elements and colors. You should size elements in proportion to the medium they would occupy. This would help you a lot, because sizing is a key procedure in design. After you understand proportional sizing, you can get more creative by slightly pushing certain proportions in order to give some visual tension or freedom.
Then try experimenting with colors. Place 2 boxes and color them, so that they look equal. What I mean by equal is that your eyes don’t prefer one to the other in any way. Then try making one bigger and try to balance them with color and space.
The design you posted is based on a grid with 6 columns for the header but then switch to 3x/2 *2 and 2x + 1 for the body which gives this stylish look. There is variance but it’s proportional!
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Jack Twain , Answer Author : Komental