That’s a broad topic to cover in just one chapter, especially since it’s the topic I’m really interested in. The chapter covers six different Zen Garden designs and highlights the primary design elements in each. Instead of saying “this is how you do design”, this chapter says “this is how others have done design.”
Atlantis
Minimalist perspectives were part of the problem, not part of the solution. Until Atlantis came along, apparently. While coders have stuck with boxy minimalism that could never be called inspired, Atlantis takes coder minimalism and smashes it against that really expensive, antique, fragile heirloom that you’ve treasured your whole life. Then it dumps a whole bottle of inspiration on it.
Or I’m drinking far too much coffee.
Anyway, while Atlantis uses boxes, it uses the graphic design elements of shape, symbolism, and iconography to make minimalism interesting.
Zunflower
Holy bright, Batman. White background, yellow flowers, and orange-yellow header bars. I had to blink a few times before I could read the chapter. Then again, I’m a fan of the dark. Light and shadow are actually the biggest tools that this design uses to differentiate itself from everything else that’s out there.
This chapter also has a bit about using space, and I agree with most of it. Usually, I discount space as anything more than what’s between the important stuff – the content. After reading this and considering it, I’ve figured out that that’s one of the things that made me a coder, and not a designer.
Springtime
The general and specific info are separated by the ground in this design. The green is very light throughout the bottom, and blue is light near the top, but they meet at a vibrant green line of grass and plant life. The chapter focuses more on the color used in this design, but that’s not what I like about it.
The separation of content by a ground, or a line of earth, is something so far outside of the realm of what I would have considered… I had to stop and just wonder how the designer came up with it. Novel isn’t the word I want, but it’s the only close one that I’ve got.
Viridity
Contrast, pattern, color blindness (and accessibility), CSS code for repeating graphics, contrast, etc. I really didn’t find the design very interesting… I felt overloaded by the greens, honestly.
Ballade
It’s all about connections. Each section must lead from one to the next, and the eye must follow. There is a difference between content naturally flowing from one section to the next and leading the eye from section to section with creativity and subtle detail. Ballade accomplishes this with its literal theme of a walk in a park.
The authors couldn’t decide, initially, if the colors implied Winter or Fall, but I immediately thought of Autumn. Winter would bring blues and whites, while Autumn is all about the browns.
There’s also a helpful comparison between using tables for layout (not what they were designed for), and using CSS for the same layout. CSS is the clear winner, hands-down.
Night Drive
The look at this style is nothing but technical. It addresses specific problems that arose in moving the design from Photoshop into the actual CSS and graphic files. Alternative code layouts compliment an exposition on the purpose of different type of graphic file and compression formats. I took to this section of the chapter more easily than the rest; code-monkey strikes again.