So, you think you're a web designer.. or a wannabe ? How much do you really know about design principles ?

Take the quiz !

http://www.andyrutledge.com/design-test.php

Hey this is nice, I will take a look at it later, this is very interesting, thanks for sharing

Paluh

Honestly, Diane, I don't think this is a very good resource for two reasons:

1) It's written in a way that even makes me have to reread and in some cases threeread questions.

2) He just gives the answers to the quiz with no explanation other than "go to design or art school to understand why the answers to these questions are what they are."

If he really knows what he's talking about, he should be able to explain the answers so that others can learn what he's talking about. He all but admits he can't in the last line on the answers page.

Why come up with this type of a quiz if no one can really learn anything from it? I usually agree with the resources you provide, but I'm not with you on this one at all.

I saw it more as food for thought, not necessarily instruction. That guy DOES know what he's talking about, and most of the questions deal with very basic principles. Some people have an innate sense of design and do well at it, most of the rest of us have to work at it and take some classes. If you're clueless about even the basics, then you're probably not going to be a good web designer.

Most of us don't know what we don't know.. but if you can point out something that I don't know, then I can educate myself.

Yes I thought it was quite good.
But it would be nice to know where the 'research' comes from.
You can read lots of different views on the best website design but its only when you see the research or test the theories that you can believe them.

It's good stuff but there is no reason the page couldn't be a form that allows you to click on radio buttons to pick. It would get all sort of useful data if it recorded peoples turns.

I don't agree with a few of the answers at all.

I had to reread the questions a bunch of times.

I also don't agree with a few of the answers. But I guess some of it is based in opinion~

Just out of curiosity, what answers don't you agree with .. and why ?

well everbody knows
6. Curves and rounded edges are fundamentally indicative of: melancholy


I did not understand their reasoning for a few, more than I disagreed with the answers. Such as lower right placement for large images in a text filled page. I think it depends on context. Also they say 3 is the most communicative number in Art and design.. I hate the words "most" "all" "exact" and the like when refering to art. I understand this from a textbook description.. but not so explicitly as they seem to imply

Such as lower right placement for large images in a text filled page

That's a fairly basic design principle though and has to do with the way we read.

The 3 as most communicative number..well again, it's a design principle and not necessarily limited to art. However, I'd be willing to bet that you'll find that '3' principle in an awful lot of art of all types.

Well if I'm japanese? Then it should be lower left.

Or Urdu.

"3" definitely goes beyond visual arts. I've most often encountered it in writing, but I'm sure it's also there in music as well. It's why a triangle was the answer to one of the questions and you see love triangles in stories. "3" adds tension and drama to writing. If I'm not mistaken a triangle is either the strongest or most stable shape. Something I once knew way back when I was a structural engineer.

There's also a rule of 3 which applies to most anything and essentially says that groups of 3 are more satisfying and effective in communicating than any other number.

The large image in the lower right (except in countries where you read right to left - I'll add Hebrew to the list) is new to me. I think most everything else in the test I got. Most of the questions were fairly basic, though I'm with everyone else on having to read some of the questions several times before understanding what they were asking.

I agree with Diane that Andy Rutledge knows what he's talking about. I've come across him before. The quiz could be better, but it's still good to open discussion.

The lower-right placement, for those of us who do read left to right (and I suspect reversing is appropriate for other languages), is because of the way we absorb information - left to right and top to bottom. It's the designers ability to lead the reader's eye with lines and elements that infer direction that can make or break a page.

From my design class:

Scan, Skim and Scour
Scan, Skim and Scour is a concept that is very important to any design. It describes the way in which a viewer absorbs information.
In western society we tend assimilate information left to right and top to bottom. There are also three basic steps that we follow when we are reading. First, we simply glance at a piece, or scan. If the layout is attractive or otherwise catches our attention then we skim to see if we have enough interest in an item to make the commitment necessary to read it. Finally, if we are interested in what we have seen, and the page has caught our attention, we may then actually read, or scour it.

Given that direction of left-right-top-bottom, the bottom right placement is a key area.

Ok.. end of design class

I really wish he had given explanations so that I could have at least learned something. What does affordance mean? It's not in Webster.

For that question (#9) I was fairly sure that c. an inviting look and feel was the correct answer.

Originally Posted by LadynRed

Given that direction of left-right-top-bottom, the bottom right placement is a key area.

Above the fold or below the fold?

Although I picked top-left for this one on the basis that it would be the first thing a visitor would see using the left-right-top-bottom direction.

Diane now that I think about it makes a lot of sense. I would think a large image will naturally catch someone's eye, but since they will naturally start looking in the upper left (for languages that read left to right) the image would draw their attention in a diagonal across the page, which is typically where you are trying to lead them.