The Design of World Wide Web Home Pages: Using Visuals to Establish Organizational Ethos  

The World Wide Web presents information developers with the task of designing texts that will be accessed by multiple, global audiences. At the same time, Web technology presents developers with new design constraints. Therefore, Web text development warrants new design considerations. This paper presents an approach based on the rhetorical concept of ethos. Four visual design considerations—page grid, graphic files, icons, and text structure—are reviewed based on how decisions about each convey the ethos of the organization.

Hunt, Kevin. STC Proceedings (1995). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Visible Narratives: Understanding Visual Organization

Visual designers working on the web need an understanding of the medium in which they work, so many have taken to code. Many have entered the usability lab. But what about the other side? Are developers and human factors professionals immersed in literature on gestalt and color theory?

Wroblewski, Luke. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric