Monday, October 17, 2011

Whitespace / print & web




PRINT: BAD
The above examples are print advertisements that could benefit from the use of whitespace.  I found that print advertisements commonly fill all of the space, probably because the client or business feels they are getting their moneys worth for inches paid for. Solid colors and images covering entire backgrounds inhibit good use white space.



PRINT: GOOD
The examples of good use of whitespace were all three from editorial publications, The Des Moines Register, National Geographic and Rolling Stone Magazine.  The first two use white space surrounding images and text organized on a grid.  The third example is a good use of solid image background, and still using negative space to allow for the title to stand out.




WEB: BAD
For starters, the first two web examples aren't using whitespace appropriately with the text.  Organizing blocks of text into chunks or making the line length shorter so the reader can scan the information more easily would help.  The last example is a haitian news source that has flashing information and no separation of content whatsoever. It's probably one of the worst sites I have seen.





WEB: GOOD
The examples of websites using whitespace well were all centered with concise headers and grid systems organizing the info. There is white space around the information that makes it easy to identify what each section contains. 



Monday, September 12, 2011

GOOD VS. BAD: Websites for Creatives

THE GOOD:
Behance.net is a great example of a website built for creative professionals looking to connect, research and inspire each other. Not only is the content of the site useful, the overall design of the site is easy to navigate.  The homepage has multiple images, little advertising and concise text copy. 


The inverted pyramid levels of information allow the user to navigate to more specific subjects, again with clear navigation buttons at the header.  In the example below I have linked to Creatives in Graphic Design




THE BAD:
yayeveryday.com/ is a blog featuring pictures, links and videos on a daily basis.  Although the simple and clean design is at first appealing, the content remains inconsistent and not very useful.  The format of the blog is frustrating and the navigation only consists of arrow buttons. 


The implementation of headlines and subheads for each day or link would improve the site's usefulness.  The pages are overwhelming and do not provide the names of designers and artists.  Not only would this help those particular creatives for engine ranking, it would associate the work with the firm, photographer or artist.