Designing for print versus Designing for online—the most important part

Front Cover of  a famous magazine "Newsweek" in USA.

Image: Wikipedia

    “Designing for print” means how to design in traditional mass media, like newspapers, magazines, etc. which are printed out to sell to readers. And “designing for online” means how to design in online website.

As traditional mass media, the most important part of newspapers and magazines are the headline (the first page of newspaper) and front cover (magazine). This part is usually a decisive part for the sales of these mass media. So, these mass media usually show the hot topics in this part.

Both of newspapers, magazines and online website need sharp colours and photos to highlight important points to keep readers interesting. However, unlike newspaper and magazine, website is shown details on the screen of computer. And the screen is to show the left hand corner first. So, this is a F-shaped pattern which is a pattern for people reading in browsing websites. The most important things on website should put into the left hand corner, especially the first page.

Image: Online News