Web design abandons the idea of blocking and thinking outside the grid

Late one night in November, I flew over my hometown of Tucson, Arizona, I was moved by the layout of the city grid, Tucson is one of the cities built by the United States through planning, and everything in the city has been carefully laid out by the designers (Figure 1), I just came back from London, and London is the opposite. , London's Urban layout (Fig. 2) Chiri, looks more like a natural.

Figure 1: Tucson in Arizona

Figure 2: London

I've been thinking about this article for a long time, and the two-city view reminds me of web design, where today's technology allows us to freely implement web format design, or completely out of the grid, there is no doubt that this is a choice that will be a real challenge to the website designer, but How do we give up those blocked thoughts and think outside the grid?

The feeling of the city

The similarity between urban planning and Web design is interesting. Grid layouts are ideal for creating predictable, easily navigable web sites that help designers plan and make them accessible to users (Figure 3).

Figure 3:ryan Brill

In a positive sense, Tucson the city is certainly easy to access, a little sense of direction or a street map is enough, the residents to other people to instruct their position, just say, I Campbell Avenue and Prince Road intersection of the southwest corner on it. Public transport is south North or East West, the road is very easy to distinguish.

On the other hand, the original plan of Tucson's designers only took into account the limited expansion, and when the city developed beyond the planning point, the problem arose. The limitations of Tucson grid prevent the emergence of different styles of communities or neighborhoods, many Tucson residents feel that the city lacks a vibrant city center or a large number of personality communities, as a result, even if such areas appear, and easy to travel, they are too lazy to find.

London is different, it is a mystery. I know Londoners have to rely on city guides to travel. The city's transportation system is full of challenges, and taxi drivers need to pass a special exam to get on their posts. The natural growth of the city does not make it an easy place to travel.

In London, however, the vibrant city and unique neighborhoods are full of cultural enclaves and interesting communities. Although more difficult to travel, because of the variety of tastes, people are more willing to stay in it.

This metaphor is also appropriate for those Web designs that tend to be natural, how can people easily travel through Chiri alleys? On the other side, beautiful design can be achieved by breaking the rules that we have always complied with. As you can see in Figure 4, the rules that break through the grid design make the design both easy to use and look different.

Figure 4:aiga Los Angeles