A List Apart: Contrast and Meaning
A List Apart has a good article by Andy Rutledge on Contrast and Meaning in graphic design. He goes over the fundamentals of how to visually convey meaning to communicate clearly (and give a better user experience) using contrast.
Obviously, bigger text should have more importance than smaller text. But Rutledge goes beyond that and talks about size, position, color, texture, shape and orientation as areas where contrast can be used effectively. In easy to follow steps, he evolves an example from basic web site copy to a page with hierarchy and meaning.
I think it’s worth a read for all web application developers, even if graphic design isn’t your primary focus. Contrast and meaning play a role in the features you add and in how you use links, buttons, Ajax, forms, feedback… and the list goes on.
