The culmination of research, structure, branding, and interactivity, the design of a website is both visually obvious and psychologically subtle at the same time.
The colors and fonts of branding start the foundation for the subtle spacing and structure of the user interface (UI) elements such as
For some projects, other graphic design tasks include print collateral like business cards and flyers, or images for social media posts and blogs.
Creating meaningful logos, colors and fonts based on user research, design mapping, moodboards, and content strategy provides brand awareness.
Branding a company or website is one of my favorite tasks. It’s a long process of research, design iterations, and user testing, but I enjoy the hidden meanings in logos and providing an overall idea and emotion with just a few colors and a single font. The branding process pulls from the Discovery Phase, where I can infer the feelings of future visitors to the website. I usually create a moodboard from these emotions, which helps guide the color scheme and font type.
User interface (UI) of websites for all screens and style guides as a basis for a design system which incorporates the branding's look and feel.
The look and feel of a website can be as simple as providing color and fonts from branding, but it’s so much more. Is the spacing wide or narrow? Are the headings bold or light? Are there blocks, lines, curves or other key graphics involved? Translating branding from a few key elements into structure of a website is an interesting exercise that can provide the client with many options. I tend to create several and then reduce them down to 2 or 3. Pairing opposites help to gauge the clients reaction to one style or another. Finding the balanced middle ground is the rewarding goal.
Graphic design boosts brand awareness beyond the websites. Tasks include iconography, photography, graphics for social media as well as print collateral such as business cards, flyers, posters, presentation graphics, and templates for documentation.
The ubiquitous nature of the web provides key guidelines for designing UI, but graphic design can vary in layout in design so much more. Usually a layout and some text content is provided and that is all. The freedom within is exciting and somewhat daunting. I actually enjoy restrictions in graphic design such as finding a way to add QR codes to business cards, creating posters or buttons at the correct size text so that they are readable in their respective locations. And once again, branding is the inspiration and foundation for the overall look and feel.
