Nowadays there’s an abundance of web design authoring tools out there. You don’t need to know anything in regards to coding like HTML, CSS, or JavaScript anymore to create an awesome looking website. Website builders such as Weebly, SquareSpace, and Wix are just to name a few.
But even with their easy to use web design tools, you still need to know what you’re doing. You want your website to be attractive and easy to navigate. If everything gets thrown onto your page without any rhyme or reason, then it can look overwhelming and deter viewers from taking your business seriously.
What Exactly Does C.R.A.P. Stand For?
That’s when C.R.A.P. comes into play. That’s right, C.R.A.P.! This acronym is used to emphasize 4 major design principles. Author Robin Williams outlines these design principles in her book Non-Designers Design Book. Anyone who is new to web design, visual design, and even graphic design should take a look at this book. In no way am I getting paid to advertise, it’s simply a good read. But for now, I’ll give you a summary of what C.R.A.P. really means.
Contrast
The C in C.R.A.P. stands for contrast. The purpose behind adding contrast to your website is to make things different. And I mean very different. You want your eyes to be drawn to those differences. Contrast is what makes things pop-out on a webpage. You can add contrast by means of using different colors, font sizes, line thicknesses, shapes, and spacing.
Not only does contrast help highlight important aspects, but it can help to mute less important details, as well. Contrast is used frequently for organizational purposes. Your viewing audience should be able to comprehend the organizational layout of your website. Get a sense of flow that is appealing and informative.
Repetition
R stands for repetition. Repeating elements in web design can help unify a page. Repeating font styles, line thickness, colors, etc. are simple ways to tie together separate pieces and make them feel as though they are part of a whole.
This can also add to the visual interest. And that’s important. If your design is visually interesting, then people are more likely to read what it has to say.
For example, suppose you use the colors blue and orange repetitively on your website. The 2 colors are complementary to one another and are visually appealing when together. Or many companies will have their logo appear throughout their website, business cards, dress attire, etc. Repetition is a key component when it comes to branding.
Alignment
A is for alignment. People unfamiliar with visual design typically forget about this principle. You never want to just throw things onto a page and call it a day. Too often than not, titles are centered, and then bodies of text are aligned to the left. Then an image aligned to the right and so on. This makes the design seem frantic and disorganized. Having proper alignment between elements helps everything flow in a professional manner.
Alignment isn’t just about aligning elements close in vicinity, but also those that are relatively far apart. You want every element to have a visual connection with another element. It can also help to unify your overall design similar to how repetition works.
Proximity
Last, but not least is P. P is for proximity. Proximity is how close or far away elements are in relationship to one another. This can act as a visual cue for your readers and help them decide whether or not elements are related to each other. Those that are related, are grouped closer together and vice versa for those that are unrelated. It helps to organize information and convey to your audience how you wish for them to view your content.
More likely than not, if you’ve done any type of visual designing you’ve already used the design principles of C.R.A.P. in some form or another. Now that you know more about C.R.A.P., you can recognize when it’s being used and implement its design principles to your own work. Being a bit more conscious of C.R.A.P. will help you make more carefully planned decisions in your web designing.
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