Paper to Pixel

It has been nearly a decade since I started my affair with web. I knew nothing about it then to be honest. I was a graphic designer and not a really good one but each day I would try to write some code (and for a long time I failed every day) or try to understand how to design for web.

Each day I would read about it and tried to analyze websites in order to find a sense behind the way they were made. Each day was a struggle with having to change the way I viewed design and the way I thought of project development.

And looking at those times now I start to think that if only someone had told me the simple truth that if something works great with print it is likely to be lousy on web my life would be much much easier.
Unfortunately no one did and I had to learn it the hard way through projects that didn’t work, by losing clients and contracts and in few cases gaining not the reputation I wanted (I managed to rebuild it though).

So if you are thinking of or even already entered the world of web design there are some differences between web and print I would like you to remember.

1. Your readers use the two media in two different ways

Print is 2-dimensional. As designers you are used to the way readers view printed materials, their eyes follow the information in two directions, horizontally and vertically and hence you can play with tension between elements, their placement and interact them against one another.

With web it is all about scrolling. Your visitors go only in one direction, they scroll pages up and down and this has to be reflected in your designs. Of course pages still are viewed horizontally although by the very fact how much we are used to scrolling webpages by default we go for vertical direction anyway.

2. On the web users navigate through site to access all the material, with print you can guide them through it.

Navigation is what web is all about. Since you really have 1-direction only you have to build tension on the web by creating an user experience, providing your visitors with all the information they are looking for and keeping that information well organized. It is your job to design the experience not knowing how the visitor will travel through the site.

On the contrary, with print in most cases the only navigation the reader experiences is turning pages. With this linearity you can easily predict where the user will go and what information he will see next.

3. Users expectations are different

Another aspect of web is it’s interactivity. With print you present information flat and static on a page. Very often the only interaction with the reader is a call to action placed on a page.

When designing for web you have to remember that users expect some form of interactivity. They want to be guided through the website, they want to be asked to make a decision and it is your job is to create tasks with no wrong answer.

But how do you implement this knowledge into your design process? It just doesn’t sound easy to do, to suddenly change the way you think of a project and the way you approach design challenge, doesn’t it?

The solution is actually very simple.

Firstly, get into a habit of analyzing websites, 15 minutes or two sites a day will do but do it consciously. Observe how you browse them, how they are structured and soon enough you will discover those differences in real life.

Then, before you begin to work on your next website, plan it. Draw a sitemap, simply list all pages and subpages with a short note what’s on them. It will help you to create a user experience and you will know what goes where. It will also help you change your mind set about web design, that the structure of information and how your visitors interacts with it comes first, design is second.

And only once that’s done, start sketching your designs.