Design Principles

Blog Design

Instead of talking about the design of a bridge or storm water management plan, this post will focus on the design features of the blog itself. Before starting this blog, I had little to no knowledge of what a blog actually consisted of. Once I learned what a blog actually was, I realized I've been reading blogs my entire life. Blogs essentially provide readers with information on a specific topic or story, but in a serving size that most people will be willing to take the time to read. Many of the design features used in blogging are directed towards making it easy for the reader to find the information they are looking for. 

Perhaps the easiest way to remember a few of the more important features is the acronym CRAP. CRAP stands for contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. These principles are rarely used alone though. Each aspect of the design usually contributes in some way to the other three features. Once you learn to understand each concept individually, you will be able to recognize how they interact with each other.

Contrast

Contrast can be used in different ways depending on the purpose of the blog. An entertainment blog will most likely use color contrast to draw the readers attention. My blogs are written under a bit more of a professional context, so my main use for contrast has been to make my main points stand out. I used larger font for my headings, so that my information is organized and easy to interpret. I decided to bold important words or phrases in my paragraphs as well. 

Repetition

It's not about repeating the same idea over and over, but about using the same formatting throughout the entire post. Using the same sized font for each heading and keeping each paragraph similarly sized are good example of effective repetition. I used both of these concepts while writing my other posts. It can also be useful if color is being used in your design. It makes it so that your blog appears organized rather than looking like a wordy rainbow.

Alignment

This deals with the location of everything on the page. Most commonly text will be aligned with the left side of the screen, but if you design to align right or center, the entire blog should be the same. When it comes to pictures or diagrams in the articles, I looked at the effect of staggering my images versus having them all run in the same alignment. I felt that aligning the pictures lead to a better flow in the text where as the staggered look forces the reader to weave through the article. 

Proximity

Although it seems like common sense, related topics should be near each other in an article. Images and diagrams should be places near the location that there were mentioned in the text. A good writing tip in general is to use an outline before hand, so any related information ends up in the same area of the article. 

These features are important to acknowledge and understand. Even if you never plan on writing a blog during your lifetime, being able to recognize these features will help with reading and comprehending blogs and other online resources. Before this project, I hardly even knew what a blog was, but by using these simple techniques I was able to write and design multiple posts with relative ease.