Visual Design is the
process of visual problem solving through the use of typography, space, images
and color. Visual design is used interchangeably with Graphic Design and
Communication Design due to overlapping skills involved.
Examples of visual
design include creating logos, publication of books, magazines, newspapers,
print media, website/mobile graphics and so forth. Key purpose of visual design
is communication through the image, functional to the disclosure of a message or
information.
User Experience Design !=
Visual Design
 |
| User Experience Diagram by Dan Saffer |
Many colleagues and
friends I work with think that Visual Design means User Experience Design and
vice versa. They are surprised when I mention that User Experience Design is a
superset of 13+ disciplines. Dan Saffer, world renowned author designed the
User Experience Design diagram based on his several decades of experience. In
short,
Visual Design is a subset of User Experience Design.
Three Goals of Visual Design
As per Scott Klemmer,
Visual Design has three main goals:
- GUIDE: Guide people to convey
structure, relative importance, relationships
- PACE: Set up the pace of the
interaction to draw people in, help orient, provide hooks to dive deep
- MESSAGE: Use Visual Design to express the meaning of the interaction and style, breathe life into the content
Visual Design Tools
Google
Website
Google website
demonstrates simplicity at its best. With a search box in the middle of the
screen, important tabs in the header and less important items in the header, it
demonstrate what it takes to retain users.
NDTV
Website
Check out an Indian
News website above. Layout and Content organization are very different compared
to what Google search did.
Fresh
Menu Website
Things might change
drastically for a Healthy Food Ordering app like Fresh Menu where people would
like to know the variety of food offered on a daily basis.
As you notice in
above screenshots, visual design is very different. Visuals and Content have
varied layouts, organization and hierarchy in each website. In general,
three main tools accomplish good visual design. They are Typography, Layout and
Color. In simpler terms, paying attention to these simple tools can help you
accomplish good aesthetics.
What does good visual design mean to you?
