Mark Boulton made his first big impact online four years ago in April 2005, with a series of blog articles called Five simple steps to better typography. This was followed up later by articles on designing grid systems, typesetting on the Web and designing with colour.
Boulton announced his intention to publish a PDF book building on these articles in October 2006. Since then, the project has grown and its fruit is a physical book, A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web, which has finally been published four years after that first series.
The first thing a reader will notice about the book is its sheer presence. It weighs in at around 670 grammes (about one and half imperial pounds) which is pretty hefty for a book this size. The high quality paper used for its cover and pages lend the book a seriousness of purpose which is reflected by the content, unlike so many other Web-related books. And it’s a bright, primary yellow.
The book is divided into five discrete sections (the five simple steps motif of Boulton’s blog posts has become the name of his publishing arm and will inform the structure of future books) of five chapters, each section dealing with a “core aspect of graphic design”:
- Getting Started
- Research and Ideas
- Typography
- Colour
- Layout
The first two sections, however, are much broader in scope than their titles imply. In the first section, Boulton covers a wide range of material relevant to practioners in the field, much of it based on his own experience as a graphic designer making the transition from print to Web. This includes the rapid pace of change on the Web, available tools and software, understanding design workflow, as well as what a budding freelancer can expect when setting up in business.
The section on research and generating ideas is really about how these activities fit into working with clients on actual Web projects. There are some valuable insights here, particularly when Boulton discusses the differences between traditional design and Web design processes. The case study that closes the section successfully shows how the process outlined before it can be used effectively in real projects.
On completing the second section, this reader felt something of a jolt when turning the page. From the practical realities of workflow and research, we’re suddenly reading about the minutiae of typography. Among Britain’s most well-known Web designers, Boulton has advanced the discussion of online typography considerably since those articles four years ago, which is why it’s disappointing that this section is the weakest in the book.
Typography is a vast subject and although Boulton makes it clear that “this book doesn’t aim to be a definitive guide”, this section lacks proper focus. Following a double page spread labelling the anatomy of letter forms is a rather cursory run through of the Deutsche Normenausschuss classification of typefaces. While the examples may be illustrative, there is little explanation of each class nor the distinctions between them. We are told that Comic Sans belongs to the Graphic classification but not the reasons why. Furthermore, it is mentioned that the Humanist classification (typefaces based on 15th century manuscripts) is also a sub-category of the Lineale classification (sans-serif typefaces), but the two classifications seem at first glance to be mutually exclusive:
Perhaps the problem lies with the classification system, but I was left feeling like I was missing something.
Boulton’s discussion of typographic hierarchy is strong and informative, but the chapter ends with a diagram and table of font weights whose explanations are difficult to follow and confusing. Similarly, Boulton writes about typesetting very well, with some good examples, but examines only a handful of the most common glyphs. I disagree with his use of hanging bullets and punctuation, but only on subjective and aesthetic grounds. The typography section ends well with an detailed look at how to style printed Web pages.
On colour, Boulton is authoritative, providing a good grounding in basic principles illustrated with some well-chosen examples and photographs.
The final section on layout finds Boulton on fine form. The section covers the golden section, the rule of thirds, triangles (though the use of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper doesn’t quite ring true), looking room, white space and grids, concluding with a thorough and insightful case study of some great layout design work for De Standaard.
Overall, despite some typos and other inconsistencies, A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web provides a solid background in the principles of graphic design for any Web designer, with particular insights into our role as practitioners in the industry, the Web design process and online layout. It certainly whets the appetite for Boulton’s forthcoming A Practical Guide to Designing Grid Systems for the Web and sets out the Five Simple Steps stall with a good deal of the panache and approachability so often lacking in Web books.
Andy | 3 May 2009 at 23:46