A nice read…

http://designingfortheweb.co.uk/book/index.php

or buy the PDF version for £12

Table of contents:

Getting Started

• Introduction – Getting Started
• Designing for the web – ‘How can I get my first job?’
• The Job – Working for an Agency
• Understanding Workflow – One Mockup or Many?
• The Tools – Just like a carpenter, a designer will have his favourite tools.
• Working for yourself – So you want to work for yourself? And why not.

Research and Ideas

• Introduction – Research and Ideas
• The Design Process – The Traditional Design Process
• The Brief – The Brief, in its different forms, represents the start of a project.
• Research – Research is a profession in its own right.
• Ideas – Ideas. They’re at the heart of every creative process.
• Putting it together – Case Study for a gardening website

Typography

• Introduction – Typography
• Anatomy – Typefaces, like most things, are made up of constituent parts.
• Classification – Typefaces have defining characteristics that give them personalities.
• Hierarchy – Typographic hierarchy, put simply, is how different faces structure a document
• Typesetting – The font industry is big business, and rightly so.
• Printing the web – The screen is just one of the media types for which we have to design.

Colour

• Introduction – Colour
• The Colour Wheel – Colour theory involves a great deal of complex terminology.
• Hue, Saturation and Brightness – Describing colour can often be confusing.
• Colour Combinations and Mood – Colours chosen from different spokes on the Colour Wheel will provide a variety of colour combinations.
• Designing without Colour – Lowering the Tone.
• Colour and Brand – Can you imagine a classic coke can in any other colour?

Layout

• Introduction – Layout
• The Basics of Composition – For centuries there has been a link between art and mathematics.
• Spatial Relationships – Space is important in layout.
• Grid Systems – A grid is an instrument for ordering graphical elements of text and images.
• Breaking the Grid – Should Everything Always Line Up?
• Bringing it all together – Case study for De Standaard.

Conclusions

• What does it really feel like to be a designer in this industry today?