Sexy Web Design Review

Having been a fan of Elliot Jay Stocks‘ work for quite a while, I was pleased to hear last year that he was writing a book, and instantly placed my order when it was released. Titled Sexy Web Design, the book guides the reader through a project for a fictional web conference which requires a website building.

As the book is focussed more on the design aspect of website building, there isn’t a single line of code within the book as Elliot concentrates on the design considerations which make a good site such as the layout, colour, interaction theory as well as the stages that are involved in undertaking a project for a client. The book starts off with an initial brief from “the client” which outlines what they wish the site to be when it’s finished, and as it is a very short brief, Elliot then describes a number of techniques aimed at extracting more information from a client in order to help in the design phase as much as possible. What follows this is a comprehensive look at the various stages of the build including the initial hand-drawn sketches to wireframes which could be sent to a client for approval all the way through to a finished design. No aspect of the site-building process is left out with topics covered including:

• The Client Brief
• Responding to a Brief
• Research
• Sitemaps
• Wireframes
• Inspiration Techniques & Tips
• Art and Design Principles
• Mock-Ups with Photoshop
• Gaining client approval
• Deliverables

No aspect of the site is left out and Elliot covers everything from typography considerations to browser size and layout options all the way down to the use of icons to add extra weight to the design. Peppered throughout the book are some wonderful examples from around the web of the techniques and ideas that are presented. There are some wonderful screenshots of navigation options, colour styles, typography and icons that perfectly illustrate the points being made.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone and is of particular interest to someone like me who is just starting out in the  web design industry as it has some very good tips which I will be incorporating into my work in the future.