Design is important for the 'Look and Feel' of a web site, CD-Rom or other production. Good graphic design will create a style that should fit with the purpose of the site, its intended users and other strands of publicity such as brochures. You might find the examples below useful in thinking about the visual style of your own project.

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Structural design of a site or any other new media project has a great effect on how it feels to the user. Most sites or programmes start from a menu which offers several subjects or sections. Each of these may be divided into subsections. Therefore there are three levels: main menu, main sections and sub-sections.

Sometimes there are further levels, or special areas such as a gallery in which screens cycle round in sequence, a database which selects screens following a seach, or reference screens which can be accessed from many places. To maintain clear navigation, therefore, there are key questions:

  • How many levels?
  • Will gallery, database and/or reference screens be used?
  • Should there be special direct links between screens in different parts of the site?

Finally, use of animation, Flash, audio, video and any specialised applications such as QuicktimeVR needs consideration.