Print Design vs. Web Design: Part 3 - Limitations Affecting Composition

By
Angie Herrera

In both print and web design, there are limitations that designers have to work with. But they are far from being the same. In this 3rd part of our Print Design vs. Web Design series, I'll go over how composition is affected by these "limitations." On a piece of paper we have fixed dimensions. It may be 8.5"x11", 11"x17", or just about any size. That is a static limitation - it won't ever change. That allows for the designer to really play with composition, allowing for a variety of layouts depending on the piece. With little to no "what if" variables, the possibilities are endless. The Web, on the other hand, brings a whole new set of limitations, restrictions and "what if" variables. Most of these limitations are technical in nature. To begin with, there's the issue of screen/monitor size. While big monitors are more common today due to decreasing prices, some folks are still using 15" monitors. And there are those using 23" or 30" monitors. With such a huge range in size, determining a baseline for the design is crucial. With a variance in monitor size also comes screen resolution. Smaller monitors tend to have a lower screen resolution and large ones to have a higher resolution. The difference becomes not only what or how much of something you see, but also how detailed the image is. The higher the resolution, the more detail, the lower the resolution, the fewer details you'll see. Knowing this fundamental concept affects the composition through the placement of important and primary elements of any given page. Of course, all that is making the assumption that people will only view your site on a typical monitor/screen. But the increased use of cell phones, PDAs, smart phones and BlackBerrys for things like email and web surfing, that is a bad assumption. These gadgets need to be considered in the design as well, even if minimally. Let's not forget connection speed! With print design this isn't an issue at all. What you see is what the user will get. Period. But on the Web, connection speeds vary. Despite the increased availability of cable and DSL connections, a lot of folks are still on dial-up modems. That presents a "limitation" on how graphically intense a site should get. There are many other "limitations" that affect the design of a web site or web application. With so many it may seem that there's only so much you can do in web design when it comes to layout and composition. This is simply not true. As designers we're still only limited by our imaginations (and client requirements/project scope) - take a gander at the CSS Zen Garden and you'll see what I mean. The difference between print and web design regarding layout and composition isn't, then, that one has fewer limitations and creates an infinite number of possibilities. The difference is simply that there are different things to think about and take into consideration. That's why designing for the Web and designing for print cannot (and never should) be equal.