The basic principals of design are true for all design projects, including website design. It allows to put together design elements in an effective manner. It involves much more than just throwing in random HTML tags on a page, as using time proven principals will help you to build more pleasing designs. These elements of good design apply whether you are creating a web page, designing business cards or laying out a print design. Once you understand them you will have the skills to become a great designer.

To put it simply, the building blocks of designs are the elements that are used to make up every page or interface you design. Once you understand the five basic elements you will be able to put together more creative and stimulating web pages. The graphic designs you attempt need to be eye-catching and of course, your web graphic design should have the earmarks of a professional. Also, making your website user friendly and adding some "eye candy" is extremely important, as you are competing with thousands of other websites to get visitors.

Lines help delineate spaces around elements on a web page and can be vertical or horizontal, and the line work increases the understanding of the design. They can be used as borders around elements, dividing lines between elements, contours around elements and decoration in website design. One of the most versatile elements is shape; they can make up any enclosed area in the design. Most of the shapes you see on web pages are rectangular or square, but you can use images, lines, color etc. to create other shapes.

The other major elements of a design are texture, color and direction; all used in graphic design as well. Texture on web pages is visual, but you can use artificial or natural textures to create an effect in your design. Color is the design element that a web designer is most aware of, but color is not a requirement of any design. Most often, it is best to create the designs without color and add it later. Direction gives your designs a sense of motion across the page. The better sites will lead you through the design so that you see what the designer wants you to see. Of course, it is always a good idea to sketch the design on paper first and then transfer it to the web design software.

All of your design work starts with a blank page no matter what type of design you prefer or use. When you look at the page, do you just start placing elements and putting them around the page randomly or do you work like most good designers and actually think about the placement of the tables, graphics, text and nav bar in your website design? The actual placement of the elements is a huge part of creating the perfect web page.

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