Design From the Source of Your Inspiration

 
Your web design has to come from
somewhere, quite possibly from
deep inside you. You need to
stay in touch with this source.

One thing I do to get myself in
touch with the source of all life
is that I sing HU. I sing HU as
a love song to God. That is to say,
I sing it to be more aware of my
connection to God.

Here are directions for singing
HU:

HU: A Love Song to God

You have your own way of getting
connected to a higher source. That's
precisely my point. In showing you
how I connect myself to a higher source
of information flow, I'm encouraging you
to do the same. Find your connection.
Find your way of getting connected to a
higher information flow.

For example, some people find a walk on
a beach or watching a sunset connects them
to a higher source. I'm sure you can
think of many many examples of how people
plug into a greater source of inspiration
and a better idea.

Back to web design. As I started to say,
web design needs a source. It needs to
come from someplace.

Ultimately, everything that is creative
within you comes from God. That's one
source.

However, there are also more down-to-earth
sources of inspiration too. One thing that
is helpful is to write the advertising copy
before you do a design. Or at least write
some of it.

It's hard to design something if you have
no idea what you are going to say. Having
a message is essential to a web design that
sings consistently through and through.

Decide what your message is before even
attempting a design. Otherwise, your design
will be an orphan design without a source.

We've all seen that kind of design. It looks
impressive but it doesn't mean anything. It's
just a jumble of impressive things that don't
really go together.

Trying to impress others is a bad starting
place. That's a source, but not a particularly
good one. It's better to start with something
more than just the desire to be impressive.

That's where some kind of pre-written advertising
copy can be so very helpful. If your advertising
copy is going in one direction and your design
is going in another, you will instinctively feel
it.

Good advertising copy will rein you in. It will
help you determine what is in good taste and what
is in bad taste. If the design does not fit hand-
in-glove with the advertising copy, it is in
poor taste. For example, advertising copy that
sells baby shoes will inspire a design that is
vastly different from advertising copy that
sells the services of an auto mechanic.

However, if you have no advertising copy and no
idea what the feelings and values of the website
are, then anything goes. An anything-goes web
design is not a whole lot of fun to look at. It's
all about everything in general but not about
anything in particular.

So start with a source. On the physical level,
start by knowing what you wish to say. On the
spiritual level, make your appeal, your connection,
to that from which all ideas flow.

Oftentimes, our best ideas come to us when we
are in a deep state of relaxation. When we are
relaxed, ideas flow better.

Also, it is easier to have a good idea after a
night's rest. My ideas often come to me upon
awakening.

Whatever your source of inspiration is, recognize
it and respect it and plug into it the next time
you design a website.

Ed Abbott

Web Design Is Light Design

 
When designing a web page,
you are designing in light.
Keep this in mind and you will
have an easier time of it.
Everything you do is light.

Start by deciding what direction
the light is coming from. Often,
light comes from the upper
left-hand corner of a web page
but of course, light can come
from any direction.

For example, if you are doing
something gothic or mysterious,
it may make sense to have the
light come from the bottom of
the page. This is similar to
the lighting you get when, on
a camping trip, you take a flash
light and illuminate a person's
face from below their chin. A
very weird effect indeed.

If the light comes from directly
above the page, it is high noon
and the topic at hand is very
cheerful. Or maybe the light
comes from everywhere. In that
case, it is a very neutral gray
topic and it is a gray overcast
day on your web page.

The kind of light that illuminates
your web page will depend on
the topic at hand. Make sure
that the light you choose for
your page illuminates the topic
rather than confusing it or
obscuring it. That's the key:
The light you choose must make
sense. It must match your message.

To summarize, there are really
just a few steps to getting started
designing a web page:

1. Choose a topic
2. Choose a direction
   that the light is coming
   from to illuminate that
   topic.
3. Make sure that the light
   coming out of the page
   and the topic discussed
   are the same
4. If the light illuminating
   the page and the topic are
   mismatched, try again

It's when everything goes together,
topic and light, that you end up
with a brilliantly illuminated
web page. Make sure everything
goes together.

If everything does not go together,
you will end up with a disjointed
web page. You'll be giving your
web visitors a mixed message, one
that they will be unsure of.

On the other hand, if everything
goes together, your web visitors
receive your message on many many
different levels. All levels the
message is given on go together and
give your visitor a reinforcing
experience that can only go in one
direction.

Ed Abbott

How to Create a Web DesignTemplate

 
Here are some thoughts on how to
design a web template and how to
get an artistic result.

First, you want to be a minimalist.
Don't add something to your template
unless it is absolutely necessary.
Too many web pages and too many
web templates out there are
way too busy.

Here's are some steps to creating a
minimalist web design template:

1. Only add one thing at a
   time to your web design template
2. Only add it if it is absolutely
   necessary
3. Make sure that what you've
   added actually means something;
   otherwise, you should immediately
   remove it

Perhaps the hardest part to creating
a web template is making it look good.
Yet, a good looking web design template
is more a by-product than something you
aim for directly. A good looking web
design is one that looks good because it
makes sense to the heart, the mind, and
the emotions.

Here are some steps to a good-looking
web design template:

1. Pay attention to shape and proportion
2. Pay attention to color and mood
3. Pay attention to perspective and
   point-of view
4. Pay attention to harmony

Of all of the things you need to pay attention
to, harmony is the most important. Harmony
makes for a web design template that is going
all in the same direction.

What direction do you want your web design
template going in? You want it to go in
the same direction as your advertising copy.
Whatever mood or attitude your advertising
copy creates when visitors read your web
page, your web design template should
reinforce. Both your web design and your
advertising copy need to be going in the
same direction.

The same direction. This is important!
The shapes and proportions you choose
should reinforce what you are trying to
say. The color scheme you choose should
help you say what you are trying to say.
The point of view from which the template
has the viewer view the template should
be one that directly relates to the message
you are delivering. All of this needs to
go in the same direction and that direction
is the direction the viewer is taken in when
your message is delivered.

Your web design template is a message-delivery
mechanism. If everything you do lines up and
goes in the same direction, your web visitors
are given a harmonizing and reinforcing message
and they receive your message on many different
levels.

It all starts with minimalism. Add nothing to
your web design template unless it makes total
sense and adds to what you want to say.

Ed Abbott