Design Element: Shape (page 3)

 

 

Shapes that remind users of other types of artwork, music, times, and sounds bring back memories and create a comfort level in their familiarity. While this shape won't remind you of one specific picture, it is designed to be reflective of still life artwork from the 1950s and 1960s, and might transition to a nice layout for:

• an art supply store, or
• a coffee house, or
• a retro site of collectibles

 

Shapes can remind us too much of an object and result in a cliche'. The sun, as an example, might result in something like this concept. Something unique in the final layout "warms" the user without looking stale from the overused metaphor.

 

 

For example, don't use an orange/yellow gradient with the sun. Keep the shape simple and experiment with color and type combinations for an overall aesthetic approach that happens to have a sun rather than as a sun site. Don't overdo the metaphor with cute buttons.

 

Don't overdo shapes; lines, space, curves, circles unless it adds to the value of your concept. New designers tend to put a little of everything in, hoping to hit something. This simple shape of line and rectangle, combined with color and content, can result in a clean, readable site. Text placed at intermittent points in the rectangle can act as buttons. Simple shapes won't meet every client's needs. However, if your client and users' language reflects basic, simple, and easy, a layout based on a minimalist concept might be a welcome relief from the client's competition.

 

 

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Written by Kelly Carey. © great25.com.