quicksilver communication

Sculpture of the god Mercury

Web design

There are a couple of things about web design that are obvious, vitally important, and yet often overlooked.

Web design is not print design. Despite the fact that web design has its origins in the conventions of print design, the two are very different. A web site designed like a printed piece does not communicate effectively, and a printed piece designed like a web site is pretty much unreadable (as modern print design shows). Read more

The web is stereographic. If print is a circle, then the web is a sphere. Whereas print design is sequential — we read left to right, one line at a time, and page two comes before page three unless somebody goofed — web design has the ability to suggest a linear “plot” while providing with multiple alternate pathways, which the reader can depart at will with little interruption. As with this link.

All in all, the web has characteristics — such as interactivity, accessibility, nonlinearity — that are advantages if used properly, and severe liabilities if abused. At Quicksilver, we earn our living from knowing how to make something communicate and inform without leeching the fun out of it.

See examples of Quicksilver web design.