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The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, 2nd Edition Cover

The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, 2nd Edition

The design book for non-designers.

4.9

average rating (7 votes)

Created by

Jason Beaird

Published by

SitePoint

Last Updated

1 November 2010

Details

Clipart, Comic Sans, and clashing colors ... If any of these fail to make you cringe, this book will teach you why they’re design no-nos. SitePoint’s best-selling design book, The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, has been revamped in this edition to cater to a variety of web professionals without a graphic design or art school background.

What you will learn

* Apply color effectively and develop killer color schemes * Construct practical layout foundations using whitespace and grids * Use textures – point, line, shape, volume, depth, and pattern * Master the art of typography to make dull websites dazzle * Design confidently for mobile devices

Description

Please note, a new edition of this book is available here. Clipart, Comic Sans, and clashing colors ... If any of these fail to make you cringe, this book will teach you why they’re design no-nos. SitePoint’s best-selling design book, The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, has been revamped in this edition to cater to a variety of web professionals without a graphic design or art school background. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to apply the fundamental principles of design and create beautiful websites of your own—seriously!

Who is this for?

If you’re squeamish about choosing colors, feel uninspired by a blank browser window, or get lost trying to choose the right font, this book is for you. I take a methodical approach to presenting traditional graphic design theory as it applies to today’s website development industry. While the content is directed towards web programmers and developers, it provides a design primer and relevant examples that will benefit readers at any level.

Creator

Jason Beaird avatar

Jason Beaird

Jason is a senior UX designer and front end developer at MailChimp in Atlanta, Georgia. As the author of The Principles of Beautiful Web Design. As a designer, he's constantly learning more about development.

Reviews

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William Oliver

This is a timeless book about web development, clearly and elegantly written, that covers the five main principles of web design (Layout and composition, color, texture, typography, and imagery). I began my journey into web design/development back in March of 2016 and through this book I found a wealth of knowledge that would have taken me years to acquire. This isn't a huge technical book, it's easy to read, and provides concrete examples of the principles; resulting in a beautiful road map that leads you to discover more about each topic. Jason takes each topic, breaks it down, and hits the essentials without getting lost in the weeds, and delivers the needed overview of the basics for someone like me just starting. Even though I consider myself moving past the basics I still refer to this book for those little bits that I didn't understand at my first reading but now resonates since development requires an investment in time. Like anything on the net, a few of the references are dated - there's no way for anyone to prevent that - but the context of the content makes it easy to google a clear example of what he's pointing out. So many times we reach for the latest and greatest book on technology given the speed in which it is moving so its AWESOME to find a book that is clearly written, stands the test of time, and is fun to read. This book is post-it compliant bookshelf certified for years of future reference! Enjoy!

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roger14

Excellent book. Good coverage of all aspects web design with plenty of illustrative examples

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mail25

Design has always been such a mystery to me. I can see when it looks good - but I never knew how to make it happen. This book helps A LOT!

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Claire Sawyers

Great book!

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