Sexy Web Design

Chapter 1 Interfaces are Sexy

I’m going to be honest. The reason I’m a designer is a simple one:

I like making stuff look pretty.

There, I said it. You know my secret. I’ve laid myself bare and that’s a fair way to start a book.

But web design goes beyond making things look pretty. It’s also about making them work. Rather than just concocting passive visuals, web designers create interfaces, systems that allow a person to interact with an object or system to achieve a goal. The best web designs give clear visual signals on how to go about the task.

Web sites—by their very nature—are all interfaces, even though some look more like plain, practical tools; think of the clean form design from 37signals' online tools, shown in Figure 1.1. Others—like ...