Case Study: Minimalist Web Layout
Dr. Rohini Coutinho, a prominent Mumbai Dentist who operates under the guise of the Toothsayer came to us to get her website built. She wanted to rebrand herself from the Toothsayer to ‘Zahne Contemporary Dentistry’.
Before we started with the design we asked her to fill out a standard questionnaire.
It seemed quite clear to us that she wanted an information heavy site that could hold a lot of content but also look minimal at the same time. The minimalist approach was taken keeping in mind that her service had to seem professional – something that would please her working class clientele.
We went into brief creation mode and decided to work with not more than 2 colours. The design had to say that Zahne is ‘non gimmicky’, ‘dependable’, and knowledgeable enough to provide the client with a certain peace of mind.
We also looked at Smashing Magazine’s post on Minimalist Clean Designs:
Pointers were:
1) Design is focused on content
2) White Space is King
3) Typography is the queen – (highlighting certain things, using colour with certain fonts which are key drivers etc.)
4) Solid Colours
5) Solid Backgrounds in plain white/ gray/ or black. Light gradients may be experimented with but are not recommended.
6) Grid Based Layouts
7) Vibrant Colourful Images – Images add character
Based on the same, the following is the layout we came up with:
In the end we decided to add a bit more colour on the title bars to add some vibrancy. A large amount of white space ensured that more colours did not look cluttered.
Apart from creating a good layout, a lot of the work with Zahne also revolves around segregation and mapping the navigation of content which is why we looked at a dual navigation structure. The top navigation is a ‘treatment specific navigation’ and the left navigation is a ‘get to know Zahne better’ navigation.
The client approved the layout at first glance (she had rejected 7 layouts from 3 other designers previously).
We were thrilled. The website is currently being coded – inner pages have been designed and approved as well. We will put up the URL on completion.
Credit to Veda Adnani - design student and freelancer. She created a beautiful logo for Zahne.
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