The principles of good web design

A website can be a powerful marketing tool, but it’s important to understand how the web works and what makes for good design. This article will cover some of the principles of good web design. Let’s dive in!

Why is good design so important?

Good design has a number of benefits. In practical terms, good design makes it easier for your users to interact with your website. A user interface that is simple and colorful will attract and engage more visitors.

A well-designed website will also be visible in search engine results pages (SERPs). According to Google, “a site’s appearance in the search engine results page (SERP) is one of the most important indicators of how well a site is likely to perform”. So if you want your website to get found and increase traffic, you need a good design!

A good design will also give visitors a positive first impression of your brand. Users are more likely to return to a website if they like the way it looks and works, and in turn you’ll have visitors who browse around your site and convert into sales and leads.

Finally, having an attractive website can build credibility and trust with customers. If your website is perceived as professional through its aesthetics, then this image can be translated to other areas such as customer service.

Web design in the age of mobile

Since 2001, more and more people have started using internet on their cell phones. And as technology advances and processing power increases, so do the expectations of your visitors. Therefore, web design has to adapt accordingly so that it can be accessible from a variety of devices.

The “Responsive Web Design” approach is the answer to this. It allows you to create one website that will work across a broad range of devices without requiring you to resort to separate mobile sites or apps. Your website will look just as good on a smartphone or tablet as it does on your computer screen!

One website across multiple channels

When designing your site, keep in mind that its appearance should not only attract visitors but also be consistent across multiple channels. In addition to the web, your website should also be available on mobile apps and social media sites so that users can share it with their friends.

Where do you start?

Making sure you have a good grasp of what elements make up an effective design will give your site a solid foundation. To get the most out of this article, I would suggest printing off or saving some of these tips for future reference as you begin designing your next site. Here are the 9 most important principles of good web design:

The 9 golden rules of effective web design

1. Website Purpose

Before you start designing, make sure you are clear on your purpose. Why do you want a website? What is the goal of the site and who will be using it? This will help you determine what elements to include in your design such as calls-to-action and navigation. It makes a huge difference if you want to sell your products or services, educate your visitors about certain topics and make them sign up for your newsletter or if you just want to show your contact information on the web so people know how to contact you.

2. Simplicity

Design with your users in mind. It’s vital to base your design around the needs and preferences of your target audience. The site should be easy to navigate and focus on what matters most to your visitors, such as the products or services you’re offering. You should consider who will be visiting your site. What is their personality? What kind of language do they use? What are their interests and lifestyle? The more aware you are of your potential customers, the easier it will be to design a website that appeals to them. It also has to make sense for them – if you are targeting a younger demographic, a flashy design might be effective, but if they’re older then a simple yet functional layout is more suitable.

• Color

Color affects our moods and emotions. Be sure to use appropriate colors for the site you’re designing so that it will be attractive and engaging.

Research shows that color has implications regarding people’s choice of product, where they’re willing to buy a particular item from, their willingness to pay more for certain items, and how long they’ll wait in line at a store. Certain colors can evoke different feelings such as warmth or coolness. It can also be used to draw attention – so if you want a visitor to notice something on your site then choose an eye-catching color that contrasts with the rest of the page.

The overall tone of your design should reflect your brand, but this doesn’t mean you have to overdo it by filling the whole site with your company’s colors. Using a limited color palette that complements your logo and business name can help keep consistency throughout your web presence. It also helps establish a more professional image.

• Typography

For your site to be effective, you need to get the typeface right.

Studies have shown that readers tend to take in content more easily and quickly when it’s displayed using a large enough font size and there is sufficient space between lines. Additionally, people tend to remember more of what they read if shorter sentences are used rather than long paragraphs filled with small type.

So choose a style which is easy on the eye by limiting the number of different fonts being used or find a way to balance them so they don’t overpower each other. Large headings can help break up the length of text-heavy pages while keeping legibility high.

Search engines also prefer simple layouts without too many colors, distracting graphics, long drop shadows fancy borders and other decorative elements. They look for larger, higher-quality images and text that is easy to read.

• Imagery

Photos are very attention-grabbing. They appeal to our emotions and create instant memories. The use of images on a site can help you portray your company in a more personal way and make it stand out from the competition.

You need to make sure that every image on your website has a purpose and is relevant, otherwise it will simply look like clutter cluttering up space or worse, draw visitors’ attention away from the areas where you want them to focus instead. You can achieve this by using photos with people in them so they feel more relatable; showing pictures of your products or services (with contact details) as examples of what people can buy or hire; including visuals that link directly back to the content in an engaging manner; providing high-quality photos that entice people to visit your site and pay attention to what you have on offer; or adding photographs of your team, just so visitors can get a sense of human personality behind the business.

3. Navigation

With so much information now available online it’s important to simplify the process of finding what you are looking for. It might be good to present visitors with a number of options and let them choose what they want – this is especially true if they’re in a hurry or looking for something specific – but don’t overdo it. Too many links can cause confusion while easy-to-use navigation makes your site easier to navigate. Be consistent with your site’s layout so that each page has the same basic elements wherever possible, such as a search box, header, opening paragraph and CTA (call-to-action).

4. Pattern Reading

Most people scan texts on websites using reading patterns. This means that they will most likely read the first paragraph or two of any document, then skip to where their attention is grabbed by bold sentences, images, quotes and so on. To help your web design with this in mind, try and break up text into smaller chunks using subheadings and bullet points wherever possible – it’s best to choose short sentences or phrases to do this as visitors can more easily grasp these.

This method also applies when you’ve got a lot of information such as technical specifications for products/services or even videos to place on your site. In fact images are said to have a 1:8 ratio (for every unique word in an image there should be eight words of textual description) for faster comprehension but if you don’t have a lot of images then you could shorten this to 1:4, or even 1:3 for really important info.

5. Visual Hierarchy (Color schemes)

Elements on websites should be arranged in the order of their importance. This can be done by size, color, imagery, contrast, textures, styles or typographically. But whichever method you choose, be consistent and make sure there’s harmony between the elements.

Take a look at your brand’s logo then apply this principle to all other branding where appropriate. You can also apply it by choosing color schemes that suit your business or brand well and using them consistently throughout your website. Build familiarity for visitors who know what to expect when they return each time.

In order not to confuse visitors, colors used on websites should form an eye-catching sense of hierarchy in order of importance as well as complimenting each other harmoniously so there is no distortion or clash. Consider the following before making any final decisions; mental associations with different hues; how colors affect our moods; seasonal associations with colors; the appearance of each color on screen (for instance, brighter shades work well in a smaller font but darker ones won’t be so easily read); qualities of colors such as coldness vs warmth and brightness vs dullness.

6. Content

The more you add the longer it takes visitors to read through everything, so make every word, image and video drag their attention as much as possible.

Effective web design not only has great design, but also great content. It’s said that a picture can say a thousand words so always add high quality images to your site in order to make the point you’re trying to make stand out from the crowd.

Follow any cultural rules of grammar but don’t ignore them just because they are not commonly used online – incorrect grammar is irritating and uncouth, which is likely to put off first time buyers/visitors. Defining yourself as part of particular community online (by using appropriate language) will help engage visitors with your brand more. This works particularly well if you focus on building trust with community members by keeping abreast of current affairs related to their industry or interests. It’s also advisable to check the usefulness and accuracy of your content regularly.

7. Layout

Grids are great to structure web sites because they’re readily understood by the human brain. This means they create balance and order. The use of grids is particularly effective for navigation, something that should be easy to get a feel for as you scroll down the page. Use two columns at most – more than this can result in your site looking busy or cluttered with too much information which is confusing and distracting for visitors (who need to know where they are on your site as they go).

This isn’t just good web design practice but also important UX knowledge  that we must consider when designing websites because it’s not what people read that matters – its what people remember from what they’ve read.

8. Load time

As well as making sure your layout is user-friendly, file sizes need to be kept small in order for the site to load faster and reduce page loading times. This is one of the most important elements to web design that can positively impact SEO efforts – so it’s crucial that a suitable balance be struck between quality and quantity of image files used. Images must also be optimized (cropped or resized) properly while maintaining high visual appeal and minimal loss of resolution otherwise they will slow down your site if not done correctly. Larger sites with complex themes will need more images to show off everything – but it’s harder to get visitors to stop loading pages if it takes too long.

This is one of the main reasons why responsive web design became so popular – because most mobile devices can’t display flash content (for example, .swfs) and are not supported by older browsers meaning that they struggle to interpret other elements such as Flash or Javascript – which causes your website to download slower than necessary for them.  If you’re designing a site for an organization that needs to be responsive then don’t use these plugins or scripts just yet until there is near-universal support across all platforms. Otherwise, make sure you provide alternatives for mobile users like text links instead of flash buttons or .swfs.

9. Responsive Design (Mobile Friendly)

The web is an ever changing environment so new devices and formats are always coming out to make browsing more convenient. Therefore you need to ensure your website design looks great on several of the most popular platforms such as smartphones, tablet PCs and laptops because they’re likely to be used by visitors from all walks of life. Also consider how a site will appear when printed as sometimes people do this instead of bookmarking pages or using search engines for quick access. Check that copy will still be readable as well as images/logos etc included (avoid button text being lost if printing in black & white for example).

When it comes to considering what devices visitors might use while on site, we must also think about how long they may spend there – don’t have a lot of media-heavy content on mobile devices for example or it will take forever to load. Remember that sometimes sites are accessed via public computing devices – so design accordingly.

Get your web design right

Web design is a crucial element of digital marketing and should not be overlooked. It’s important for us to consider how our sites are organized, what content we include on them as well as the layout because they all impact how visitors see your business online. If you want professional help with web design that will drive sales, let us know – our team of experts can give you an in-depth analysis of your site or provide insights into best practices when it comes to website UX and maximizing SEO efforts through good web design.