Web Graphic Design for Small Businesses

An anonymous reader writes "I'm a competent geek running a one-man-show for a small business. I do everything IT in this company; servers, email, desktop support, managing Ethernet switches, cash registers, inventory database, and the company website. My boss has asked me to 'punch up' the website to make it more appealing. Although I can hold my own with HTML, PHP and a couple SQL products, graphic design isn't one of my strengths. I'm looking for some advice on how to improve the site without making it overstimulating for the webophobic. It's also important that it conform to ADA accessibility guidelines. In particular, I'm looking for books or tutorial websites that teach the basics of good graphic design — how to make it more appealing without losing the ability to communicate effectively. Also, I would appreciate suggestions for tools to use to make this more efficient (Windows and Linux are both OK)."

Comments

Get someone else

[diskis]

I'm a good geek of all arts. But when I try to dabble in graphical design, I always fail spectacularly.
Get someone with actual talent to do it.

Do really you think you can train a graphical designer to code with a few book and tutorials, and not get out results fitting for thedailywtf?

Re:Get someone else

[piojo]

Personally, I think it's nicer to search for a nice CSS/site template. I found one that I really liked for my home page. They are very easy to adapt, and you know what you are doing is legal. (I looked for ones that didn't require me to write anything really tacky at the bottom of the page. "design by [author]" is fine, "design by Free CSS Templates" is not.)

Pay someone else

[TubeSteak]

Contract out to a professional.
You've already got a lot on your plate.

Re:Pay someone else

[mgabrys_sf]

Geez I wish I had mod pts today. That's the biggest and most important argument. Philosophies aside (and I'm a designer and it's the early morning and I'm migrating files and reformatting a computer I'm selling at the moment and would normally be crankier than hell and could flame this to China) the most important consideration is TIME. Would it be worth it for him to put another item on the agenda which could be a timesink and still not come up to par - or could you save time (and a heap of money) using a professional?

The whole point of a service economy whether you're marketing, graphics or IT is getting a specialist who can knock your socks off and use their time to the fullest advantage. I'm getting bummed by the whole 'kitchen sink' fad because it's really not only lowering the bar - but it's really pandering to the jack of all trades master of none crowd. I know enough code so that my designs and templates will hook with the back end effectively and I can make revisions, but I put in big flashing neon when a recruiter or client comes calling because they see all the languages I have listed on my resume that it's not my passion, interest, or the best most effective use of their time to be mucking about with their systems or the back-end more than I should.

I came out of publishing, printing initally on the way to design & advertising - and it always was an advantage to be able to interface with the production directors and speak their language later on in my career and know that my stuff could get on and off the press with minimal fuss (not to mention having a better grasp of really cool things that could be added to the design). I never claimed to be a true dot-head who could read screen angles and see color through the seps exclusively (true side-story - the best color expert on one of the pre-press and high-end publishing campuses I worked with was actually color-blind. But GEEZ could he read film).

I always am quick to point out when a client is bogging themselves down timewise when they go outside of my usual skillset. Sure I could learn advance scripting for building new libraries to hook into - but is it really worth their time? And by worth I mean money.

Use a theme for a website engine

[rgm3]

Your best bet here is to start with a system like Wordpress, Joomla, or Drupal and theme it. You can start with one that has the basic layout you like and modify according to your GIMP skill level. Usually all the accessibility work is done for you with this approach.

Re:Hire someone

[holophrastic]

You guys aren't satisfactory geeks -- I think you've lost your geek roots. There's nothing IT-bound to geekdom. Instead, it's the simple notion of "screw it, I'll just figure it out myself". The entire computer geek world came about from having to learn something that no one else knows.

How can you advise someone capable of learning not to do so? No one's asking to become a professional marketting expert in ten days. The potser is asking to learn over a long period, and to start with something small.

That's certainly doable for someone clearly able to learn.

I seem to recal a book review on slashdot some year or six ago that proposed a web design book for programmers. It described basic colour and layout theory and such. I haven't the foggiest as to when or what, but certainly they do exist.

As a web developer myself -- I do handle both the programming and the design work. I shy away from the serious design work if only because it isn't worth my programming time, but the simple design work is easy and fun. Just sit there with the blank canvas and be patient. Many many iterations is the key. Just talk it out. Think about your design goals, break them down, try them out. It's really just pseudo-code and a paint-brush.

Art Institute

[hotsauce]

Absolutely. Get someone from the local Art Institute of $yourCity to look at your current glossy brochures and do it. Grahpic design is as far from programming as grahpics are from the mechanics of the printing press.

And yeah, she'll probably be a she :) That's the bonus, you'll get to work with a creative, and see how the other half live (gender- and professionally-wise). Then actually follow through with what she designs for you, don't just cringe at the large grahpics and crazy layout.

Re:Art Institute

[dgagley]

Local Art institutes do not teach reality in graphics. Especially graphics that does not clog the band width. I have to re create designers work for print and online on a monthly basis. You can seek design help but you my need to alter it to work at a clean and understandable form. Try some small web design firm that is willing to help on side projects. You may also be able to share codding projects with them and make some side money as well.

HTML is *NOT* Art

[RobotRunAmok]

I run into this misunderstanding all the time, on both sides (geek and suit).

There is nothing about being a "geek" or knowing HTML, CSS, or javascript that magically grants someone designer chops. It's like expecting the guy who sets type and runs the printing press to be a novelist or journalist, or expecting the chemist who mixes the paint to also be a canvas artist.

This misunderstanding was prevalent back when the web was "new" (circa '94-95), but it's inexcusable today. In any case, it's a lot easier to teach HTML and CSS to a legitimate designer, than design to an HTML jockey.

If the work of a real designer or design firm is simply not in the budget (which is crazy talk, because there are firms online that grind this stuff out now for chump change), than find some CSS book with a CD full of templates that grant license to modify. But please, for the sake of art, sanity, and all that's holy, keep IT out of web design!

Please note: Code is *not* poetry, and HTML is not code...

Re:HTML is *NOT* Art

[mysticgoat]

While parent post is not untrue, it comes across as a self-serving piece written by a graphics designer who needs to convince the world that he has much value to add to someone else's web site engineering. I don't know that is the case, but that is the appearance the words convey.

Graphics design is not all about Mysterious Talent: there are some basic rules that can be learned and applied by anyone. Conforming to these rules will add "punch" to your web pages, whether you understand the reasons for them or not. Use of them will not of itself get you any artistic awards, but since they can be translated into your daily work with CSS on layout and color, they can be applied without increasing your operating expenses. Which appears to be what the boss wants. It seems very unlikely that the boss is going to add the cost of a contract with a graphics design artist to the company's overhead. The goal is clear: take what has been done and make it better. Don't throw it away and reconstruct with someone else's template. Grow what's already done into a more pleasing form.

Google for "color theory" and "graphic composition": those are the two basic fields you need to look at.

Under color theory, look for discussions of

• the color wheel,
• monochromatic color schemes,
• tinted, shaded, and muddied colors (going toward browns or earth colors)
• complementary colors,
• use of contrasting colors,
• color temperature (warm colors vs cool colors)
• You'll come across other terms as you go through this material: check them out too

Under composition, look for discussions of

• basics of visual perception (how the eye scans an image) and how to guide that
• rule of thirds
• golden rectangles
• use of circles
• use of intersecting diagonals
• active and passive shapes
• check out the other terms you stumble upon as you go through this list

What you probably want to do is to find some formula that will work for the web site, can be applied throughout it (helps with "branding" by providing the user with a constant, reliable theme), and can be followed pretty much as a recipe (without you needing to remember what the rules are or why this set of details works). A $20 set of watercolors, or even a box of crayons, can help in exploring and gathering comments on initial drafts of the presentation. The end result will probably be mostly CSS snippets you can treat as black boxes.

Another excellent resource is an artist supply store that caters to newbies and hobbyists: it will have books on beginning watercolor or acrylic painting that will go over this material, and it should have a clerk or two who are helpful.

Re:Unify your online presence and Marketing progra

[MrMarket]

You want a Marketing Pro, who can deliver the rain, handling the "Vision", while you can concentrate on the implementation.

Okay... who let in the PHB?