A common question that comes up:

“What’s the difference between web design and graphic design?”

The answer:

Graphic Design tends to be with layout, with print, or has to do with logos. It has to do a bit with spatial design. Web Design is the same.

The main difference (and it’s a big one!!!) is the user psychology is different.

Someone looking at a can of coke has a different psychology than someone looking at a website. Web user psychology is a whole different ballgame people.

A great analogy of user psychology I like to reference which helps people “get it” is road rage. You could be the sweetest person in the world, but you get behind a car and some M’F'er cuts you off and you are a sailor’s worst nightmare. Something about cars. Something about the isolation. About being anonymous.

Being behind a computer is the same. There is a whole different psychology there. People expect to find things quickly (and more often than not for free too!).

That being said, Web Usability is a huge huge topic that requires a lot of research and studying if you want to be a really good web designer. There are equations, math, and psychology all involved.

However, if you want some light (and fun!) reading, the very best reference I can recommend is “Web Pages That Suck“.

They take a look at actual sites that are designed poorly and explain WHY they are designed poorly. And sometimes it’s quite humorous. Sometimes it’s humorous especially if you’ve been a web developer for some time because you KNOW you’ve committed these same errors!

This is a really fantastic series of books. I can’t recommend it enough. If you have a web designer friend, this is the perfect book. It’s a great combination of humor and a lot of great web usability/web psychology lessons all rolled into a nice big colorful book! Go check it out!

GO CHECK OUT “Web Pages That Suck” !! 

GO CHECK OUT “SON OF Web Pages That Suck” !!