So, I thought I would put together a list of Web site screen shots to discuss style and tone. The ideas don't just relate to Web design, but to any design. However, since Web design is most prevalent, it is the easiest medium to use to discuss the principles.
To get started, take a look at this screen shot of a Website.
Now, you'll notice that I've blurred a lot of the text. While text is a small part of style and tone, it can also lead to confusing discussions about vocal style and tone of voice; which are similar, but not entirely the same. Also, if you know the owner of this site, or you are the owner, my apologies for the critical look at the style and tone; bear with me, though, I think it is a valuable discussion.
So, just focus on the visual aspects of the site, including font choice, color, layout, margins, contrast, alignment, etc. The font is Arial, a fairly straight-forward sans-serif font. It certainly isn't monochromatic, the contrast of text on background makes some of the text difficult to read. The eye doesn't know where to land and the background is "noisy." These are the aspects of "style." To describe this style, I would call it gaudy and bricolage. It certainly couldn't be described as "elegant" in style, nor is the style particularly "hip" (for lack of a better term).
Contrast the former site with the one below. Remember to look at the visual aspects of the site.
This site has a completely different style from the earlier one. This one is certainly appropriate for pop culture; It has "fashion" and appeal. But I wouldn't call it "elegant" or even "clean;" it has a sort of "dirty" bricolage feel to it also; but more of a street-wise bricolage. It also uses a fairly plain Times New Roman serif font, nothing fancy, but the line-height and kern are adjusted stylistically. I would describe this site as a "postmodern" and "pop culture" style.
So, armed with the above examples, leave a comment on this post describing the style of this site:
I will probably post more on this topic in the future, so stay tuned.
4comments:
Very interesting stuff! I'm sure you could spend years evaluating the style and tone of many different web sites.
Regarding your third "sample page" and you wanting feedback, I would describe this screen shot as clean and the background comes across as elegant to me. The color of brown doesn't rub me the right way - but it's not "screaming" or obnoxious but it does seem a bit drab...yet still elegant.
The page seems "neat" to me in that there seems to be only 3 links to choose from and not an abundance of text to confuse you!
I look forward to seeing more blogs from you.
kalynn,
Thanks very much for participating in my little game. The adjectives you used, "clean," "elegant," "not- 'screaming'," "not-obnoxious," "drab" and "neat" are all excellent words to describe style.
Based on your analysis of style, what do you think this site is about? What kind of people are they?
Well...my mind thought of several different things...but in really looking at it...my guess is a coffee company. Here's what I see: a coffee pot (on the left), what looks like coffee beans on the right near the artist paint palette, and the "main" image in the middle looks to me to be a plant (my guess would be a coffee bean plant). The brown swirls on the background make me think of aroma from coffee - steaming, hot, wake you up in the morning JAVA!
Am I right?
kalynn,
You are correct. The use of color and style demonstrated to you the "type of people" that the site represented. I think that this site makes excellent use of style and culture to give you the appropriate feelings of quality coffee.
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