A Design Is Only as Deep as It Is Usable
Louis Lazaris
There are well-known proverbs that imply (or state outright) that beauty is
superficial and limited in what it can accomplish. “It’s what’s inside that
counts” and “Beauty is only skin deep” are a few simple examples. Because
the Web design industry is now flooded with a lot of raw talent, and
because virtually anyone can create a “beautiful” website, recognizing a
truly beautiful website experience is becoming increasingly difficult. What
appears beautiful to the eye might in fact be more of a hindrance.
In this article, I hope to provide a clear demarcation between what is
perceived by most to be beautiful in Web design and what is truly beautiful,
along with some guiding principles to help designers today create websites
whose beauty is not superficial, but rather improves and enhances the user
experience.
Gradients, Drop-Shadows, Reflections, Oh My!
A lot of things could fall in the category of “beautiful” or “attractive” in the
context of Web design. But a number of factors would make such beauty
shallow. Is a website more attractive if it has tastefully placed drop-
shadows, gradients or reflections? What if it has an eye-pleasing color
scheme? What about big over-designed buttons? Could these be standards
by which a design would be deemed beautiful?
If you’ve been keeping tabs on the Web design industry in the last five
years, you’ve probably at some point visited one of the many CSS galleries.
Visiting those inspirational showcases is great, and I’m sure we’ve all done