Written by Ben Hunt from web design agency Scratchmedia. For more information about his agency visit scratchmedia.co.uk

How to design for the web

The purpose of design is to facilitate communication between user and content

Designing for the web means designing sympathetically with the way people actually use the web, not how we think they should.

People approach web pages in very different ways to how we design them

  • They skim pages for clues, instead of reading
  • They make snap decisions, instead of evaluating and judging carefully
  • They might not even be looking at the complete picture
  • They are driven by their goals, not ours

Web Designers need special skills to succeed in this hostile environment

  • We must gain the best possible insight into our users' goals, so that we can help achieve them.
  • We must get clear on our design's purpose, and have the mental discipline to stick to it
  • We must pursue simplicity ruthlessly - if an element adds complexity but not value, it must be changed

To start learning ways of designing for real users, we can gain insights into what the brain is good at. This provides a useful foundation for developing and evaluating design techniques.

Fortunately, the mass experience of digital design is at our disposal, and provides us with patterns and conventions that are proven to work.

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