Design for Non-Designers

Though I found both pieces helpful, I felt the basic principles really helped give definitions and context to what a good design looks like. We've all been to pages with annoying animations, jarring colors and graphics spread all over the page. A lot of times it's easy to tell when a site looks bad and what constitutes bad design, but I never put a lot of thought into the principles behind good design until I read this.

The most helpful thing I found was the concept of alignment, that a vertical line should be able to unite the elements on the page. It was interesting to me because design can look good without being perfectly aligned, but the element of having it all set to one vertical line makes it so much more professional looking. I also like the idea of having white space, because it gives the media on the page much more power and can help direct the viewer's eye.