Ten Rules of A Good Design

Screenshot of Tasty.co website

Here's an example of one of my favorite resources for recipes—Tasty. I love food and I love simple and easy-to-follow recipes just as much! I actually have not been to the Tasty.co desktop website before, as I always access their recipes via my social media feed on my mobile device. However, when I was thinking of sites that I could possibly use for this assignment, I thought that this might be a good site to check out because their videos are always so clean and aesthetically pleasing. So, when I went to this site, I wasn't surprised at all when I saw that their site had a clean and effective design, too.

The following is a list of ten rules of good design that the Tasty.co website follows. Let me know what you think—if you agree or disagree—and why!

Screenshot of a recipe from the Tasty website

Balance

According to Golombiski and Hagen (2013), balance is an important aspect of any good design. The concept of balance is centered around visual weight. Balance can be radial, symmetrical, or asymmetrical. In this case, the website uses all three types of balance in their design. For example, the header uses asymmetrical balance; the logo is placed on the left along with two links. Although the search bar on the right is not the mirror image of the items on the left, it is still balanced because it takes up roughly the same amount of "weight." According to Golombiski and Hagen (2013), improperly balanced designs can cause tension and make the design feel "off." Therefore, balance is a top ten rule of good design.

Color

Color is also an important element of design (Krause, 2004; Golombiski and Hagen, 2013). When you are designing something, it is important to keep the color wheel in mind. The Tasty site uses an analogous color scheme. In the photo above, you can see the blue is paired with purple and red.

Composition

The elements of this website are combined in a way that is cohesive and aesthetically pleasing (Kraus, 2004). For example, photos are grouped together, which creates rhythm. The backgrounds are simple and the margins are generous (Golombiski and Hagen, 2013), creating well-composed page designs throughout the site.

Shape

Another design concept that the Tasty website makes good use of is shape. You can see that the site uses a lot of squares, creating a nice, clean site. To prevent it from looking too boxy, however, the site uses more organic elements to create some contrast.

Photos

As Golombiski and Hagen (2013) point out, it is important to make the pictures work together with the words. The tasty site achieves this with their use of photos, as the pictures depict exactly what the recipe is. Furthermore, they are of high quality and professional. The cropping, scale, and proportion of the photos are visually pleasing.

Emphasis

The site uses emphasis to call attention to certain areas of the page content. For example, at the top of the home page, there is a video with highlighted text that says, "Try This" with the name of the recipe in bold. You can't miss it!

Typography

The typography on the site is clean and easy to read. There is some variation in font, however, the site does not go overboard. All of the text is in harmony.

Usability & Flow

According to https://www.smashingmagazine.com's 10 Principles of Good Website design, usability determines the success or failure of a website. In other words, is the site user-centric? When a user lands on the site, does he or she know what to do, where to click, and how to find information? The navigation, in the Tasty site is very simple; there are only two links. Furthermore, with the effective use of emphasis, visitors of the Tasty site know exactly where and how to find the recipe they are searching for. If all else fails, there is a search box that is visible at the top that visitors can use to search for recipes.

Video

According to Golombiski and Hagen (2013), video is an impactful multimedia tool that can contribute to a multisensory experience. The Tasty site uses a lot of video to give quick, easy-to-follow tutorials on how to make a recipe.

Harmony

All of the elements of the site work together to create a space that is simple, clean, effective and unified.

References
Hagen, R. & Golombisky, K. 2013. White Space is not Your Enemy: A Beginner's Guide to Communicating Visually Through Graphic, Web & Multimedia Design (2nd ed.). Focal Press.

Krause, J. (2004). Design Basics Index: A Graphic Designer's Guide to Designing Effective Compositions, Selecting Dynamic Components & Developing Creative Concepts. Cincinnati, Ohio: How Design Books.