heya, > I'm going to make a presentation to art students on an introduction to > web design and would like some advice (besides how to deal with the > butterfiles in the stomach).
A few points.... 1) Many arteeeests claim that the limitations of web design restricts creativity. Realistically, a) it's not *that* limited, and b) limitation is a source of inspiration anyway. To this end I'd head that argument off at the pass by showing them the CSS Zen Garden (it's an old chestnut to us, but they probably won't have seen it). 2) Continuing the faux-eastern theme, they probably need to understand that the web is not print - again, an old chestnut: The Dao of Web Design (http://www.alistapart.com/articles/dao/). Let the web be the web - they will need to create a design which changes slightly and yet retains its spirit. A few pixels here and there is of no real concern. Just as they cannot control the mood of a patron viewing a painting, they cannot control the equipment used by their audience. 3) The web is like a print job with an unlimited budget (well ok, not really). But seriously - they won't run out of paper on the web, nor do they have to put up with cheap paper stock. So they will never need to cram an essay onto an A5 sheet - they can let a website breathe and spread comfortably. White space is just as important online as it is anywhere else. 4) Just like anything else, the medium is not the message. Their designs need to make the substance shine - they wouldn't get away with typesetting a novel in 6pt microtext; so they shouldn't expect to do it online. 5) Finally...... not everyone has a Mac G5 with a 20inch cinema display. So don't design pages according to their own gear! :) Not sure any of that really helps you, but man it was therapeutic to write it :) cheers, h -- --- <http://www.200ok.com.au/> --- The future has arrived; it's just not --- evenly distributed. - William Gibson ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
