Allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Norma Riehle and I am a graphic designer. I own and operate 2 Chairs Design in Katy, Texas. I am also the Web Chair of AIGA Houston. This web site is the visual component of my thesis work for the Master of Fine Arts in graphic design from Savannah College of Art and Design. Having been an eLearning student for the past four years, I have first-hand knowledge of what's possible in this medium. As Web Chair of AIGA Houston I have been involved in conversations with graphic designers who say they would like to learn more about the fine art of web design. While we may never know all of the ins and outs of coding we can subscribe to platforms that allow us to create beautiful sites that embody the core principles of presentation, organization and structure.

This web site was created on the Adobe Business Catalyst platform.

This platform has been designed specifically to bring all of the components that help businesses communicate together. Specifically, ecommerce, blogging, marketing, customer relations management and analytics, exist in one system that requires minimal coding. To be able to completely manipulate pixels on the screen, designers will need to have a basic understanding of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), (X)HTML, web standards and appropriate accessibility standards. While all of the standards and languages available today won't be employed on every site, designers at least need to know why they choose not to create and employ certain things. It's like knowing the grid so intimately that you are justified when you break it.

This course is made by a designer for designers.

The focus of this web site study is on architecture design for sites that have a particular business goal or the need to accomplish something. Sites that are solely for personal expression, for example, would not direct a user to a particular activity. Additionally, intranet sites would not be researched because these sites do not compete for users who go to them primarily for work-directed tasks.

Thousands of dollars are spent by businesses annually with the aim of attracting customers on the web.

Furthermore, thousands of dollars are lost by individual businesses because of poor design and lack of logical pathways to complete a given task. The marriage between making beautiful images and solving problems from a more analytical approach is how graphic design principles and the web interrelate. The analytically derived solutions in the past have lacked finesse - they simply aren't attractive - which is necessary in the competitive business environment with which we live. Falling too deeply into one discipline or the other negates the intention of the development of the site.

Much can be learned about key principles that drive activity on the web.

Patterns of the Web researches the role of graphic design principles in developing navigationally sound web sites in the context of information design and applicable usability measures. Businesses today need to convert browsers into buyers more than ever before. The role we play as designers is becoming more critical in making this happen. The tools are here. The time is now.