Journal 5

Basic Design Principles :

This is an excerpt from a book that tells the reader how to make their web page look as professional as it possibly can. Using four highlighted words; alignment, proximity, repetition, and contrast, to explain just how their website should have these elements to make it the best web page. The first one, alignment, talks about how the web page should not have writing all over in different parts of the page. There should be one set alignment for both the headings and the body paragraphs after. The easiest alignment for a beginner is to make it in the center. There is also a "baseline," meaning that all the font should be on the same line and not up and down. Then there is proximity, which is keeping what should be related together and what should not be far apart. There have been mistakes where whatever was supposed to be related to the picture was far from the picture itself which caused confusion for the readers of the web page. A trick to make sure that your proximity is on track is to squint your eyes and see if you can tell what is supposed to be together or not. After that is repetition, which says that the first web page should look like the next one and the next one after that, and so on. It's important to make the pages look the same, to use the same font, color scheme, pictures, and layouts, to make the website unique. If there are other elements involved in the website that causes the reader to not be sure if they are continuing the web page they want or if there was a mistake. It is also easier on the reader to navigate the web page.

Next there comes contrast and color. Contrast on a page is good to get the readers eye at first and then to keep the contrast to a low to make sure the reader stays interested in what they are reading, and not something to take them away from that. To get the reader's attention, make sure the contrast is completely opposite in whatever you choose to contrast because it makes it that much clearer to the reader. The contrast should have a "focal point" which is the main contrast point to get the reader's attention. All contrasts should have one. Next comes color. Color is a very important part of the web page and there should be a limited color scheme. Using colors of the same scheme throughout the entire web site makes it easier for the reader to read and relate too. Also, it makes the web page more fun for you to design because it's gives you the chance to use your own ideas and creations. Make sure the colors look good together, though, and don't use dark on dark or light on light because it makes it hard to read. Trial and error tests are the best way to go when combining colors instead of trying to get all scientific. There is then the CMYK color model which is used for full color printing. Instead of using "spot color," which is one color like green or black, CMYK, or Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow, and blacK, is using these different colors to make up one color picture. Mixing a cyan color dot with a yellow dot makes the dot in the picture look green and in a full color page there are many different dot combinations to make all of the colors. Seeing as on a web page the light from the monitor reflects into our eyes it makes the color important.

On my web page, I used contrast to make the things that I wanted to stand out, stand out. I also used a technique of fading to make the uniqueness of my paper interesting. I hope that it isn't too much for the paper, but I wanted it to be different than any other paper. I also wanted to make it stand out and that was one way of doing it. I have to make sure that my spelling is correct because I tend to type too fast which causes some mistakes, but I always spell check after every save. My pages make me happy and I feel like they are well organized also.