Good website design can be the difference between a potential customer spending time on your website and a visitor leaving your site after viewing only one page. It can influence the conversion rate, SEO rankings, and your audience’s perceptions of your brand. This is why it’s important to focus on creating a website design that is user-friendly.
However, creating a user-friendly website design from scratch can be overwhelming, especially for beginners. They are usually experts in recognizing good designs over bad. But they find it difficult to achieve that ultimate balance between innovative creativity and business prowess.
There are plenty of templates and themes out there for nearly every business objective. But they lack uniqueness. You will find thousands of other websites that are using the same design. So, if you want to add a personal touch to your website and stand out from the crowd, then it’s a good idea to create the design from scratch.
However, website design is not just about visuals and aesthetics. There are much more to it. There are a lot of things you need to consider when creating your site’s design and layout. After all, your website is the cornerstone of your online presence.
Whether you are looking to build it from scratch or evaluate numerous templates and themes, there are a few key elements of web design that you must consider. In this article, we are going to discuss them in detail. So, let’s get started.
Website Design and User Experience
Before we start talking about the elements of web design, let’s take a look at how website design can affect user experience:
- A well-designed website will keep readers scrolling. It often involves breaking up content into smaller sections, using white space, including visual hierarchy with banners, etc.
- According to a study, It takes 0.05 seconds for a person to decide whether or not he will stay on your website. So, you have to grab the attention of your readers from the moment they land on your site. This is where the role of high-quality imagery and good typography comes in.
- Responsive web design makes sure that your website will fit the screen of any device.
- Good website design can help you build trust among your readers and potential customers. It will promote professionalism.
Take Care of Tech Stuff
Most people think that web design is all about choosing the right colour palette and visuals. While these things are important, there are a few other things that you need to consider to improve your user’s experience on your site.
The website loading speed is the first thing you need to consider here. Even the best design of the world is of no use if no one can see it. It has been found that almost 30% of all internet consumers expect a website to load within one second or less. So, you could lose a lot of customers if your website doesn’t load fast.
This makes it important to choose a reliable web hosting provider. They can ensure that your website loads fast and is online 100% of the time. They can also take care of other technical stuff that can affect user experience. You can find tips and advice on how to choose a reliable website hosting service provider on the internet. Consider going through them carefully before selecting a hosting provider for your website.
Key Elements of Web Design
Different designers and website owners take different approaches when it comes to designing a website. It depends on what the site owner is trying to achieve with the website.
However, there are basic design elements that everyone should consider when creating a web design. In this section, we will talk about the top 8 elements that are foundations of great web design.
1. Layout and Visual Appearance
The overall look of your site is the first thing you need to take into account here. It is one of the most important parts of web design.
The first impression counts. So, you need to impress your target audience in the first place. Your site’s layout can play a very crucial role in it.
It’s a good idea to have a design that is simple, clean, and accessible. It’s advisable that you use a lot of whitespace in your design. You can consider using grid-based designs. This will help you keep your design items organised.
You should also use high-quality images, graphics, and icons. However, make sure that the visuals are relevant and complement each other. You need to place your website elements based on the visual hierarchy you want to assign it.
You can consider using F-Patterns or Z-Patterns. They emphasize on the area at the top of the page. Businesses usually place their logo in that area. However, you can also use a search box or navigation. It will inspire user interaction.
2. Colour Palette
It’s extremely important to use the right colour schemes when it comes to designing a website.
The most important things that you need to consider when choosing a colour scheme are:
- Your brand perspectives
- The demographics of your target audience
For instance, a lawyer or accountant can use blue or green colour schemes for their website. Similarly, a photographer can consider using black and white.
It’s also important to consider the expectations of your readers when choosing a colour scheme. For example, if your target audience is the parents of newborns, then using soft pink and blue colour schemes can be a great idea.
The number of colours you use is a crucial thing that must be taken into account. You may use different colours. But remember that using too many colours can distract your visitors. It’s better not to use more than two or three colours.
You can visit the websites of the leaders in your industry for inspiration. It will give you an idea of what colours you should use. You can also experiment with different shades of your current colours.
3. Content of The Page
People will visit your website because they want information. And if the content of your website doesn’t meet their expectations, they will immediately hit the back button. This is why you should focus on creating content that is informative and easy-to-digest.
Also, it’s important to craft a content structure that is visually pleasing. No one likes blocks of text throughout a page.
Use short sentences and short paragraphs. Also, use headings and subheadings to organise sections. You can use bullets and numbers to highlight the main points. These rules apply to all the pages of your website, including the homepage, about page, contact page, and blogs.
Remember that you need to communicate your message in a way that can make your potential customers understand that you are capable of delivering what they need.
4. Typography
Choosing the right typography or font is a crucial part of web design. Like colour schemes, you need to consider your industry perspectives and your audience demographics when selecting a font.
For example, lawyers and accountants can consider choosing distinguished serif fonts. On the other hand, photographers can use a very light and airy sans serif font.
The most important thing you need to keep in mind is that your text should be easy to read. For this, make sure that the body of your content is at least 16 pixels. However, don’t use unnecessary elements or fonts that are difficult to understand. It’s better not to go beyond three typefaces. Also, it’s important that there’s plenty of contrast between your text and the background colour of the site. It means you need to pair a light colour with a dark tone.
5. SEO-Boosting Elements
You must incorporate SEO-boosting elements into your website design. It will greatly improve the SEO performance of your website.
You must optimize your meta tags, title tags, header tags, and other HTML coding elements for the keywords you want to rank for.
6. Navigation
You should place the navigational elements in a way that can allow your readers to find the information they are looking for quickly. It’s better to avoid overly animated hover effects.
Most people use three horizontal parallel lines to hide their navigation off-site. It helps save space. However, it can obscure interactions from your readers.
When it comes to navigation, you need to think beyond the menu bar. It’s always a good idea to use directional arrows and “Back To Top” for one-page websites. It will make it easier for users to navigate the different sections of the webpage.
The footer navigation menu is another important area you need to focus on. You should also optimize your footer menu. It can increase conversions.
7. Mobile Friendliness
The number of smartphone users is increasing with each passing day. In the last few years, mobile web traffic has overtaken desktop traffic. This is why it’s important to make your site mobile-friendly. It will help you better serve the people who will use a mobile or tablet to access your website.
Most of the professional templates that are available on the internet come prepared for mobile traffic. If you are creating a custom design from scratch, make sure that it can adapt to various screen sizes.
8. Call-To-Action
You want a website design that can turn visitors into leads and customers. Call-to-actions have an important role here. The most common CTAs include email subscription forms, contact forms, free consultation forms, free downloadable ebooks, etc.
You need to incorporate them into your website design strategically. You can place them in the sidebars, at the end of your blog posts, and other visible areas of your website. Also, don’t forget to include a call to action on your homepage.
Conclusion
So, these are some of the key points you need to remember when creating a website design. Incorporating these elements into your web design will surely increase your conversions. You should always prioritize user experience. Also, it’s important that you optimize your website for its physical design as well as its functionality. I hope you would have gained some knowledge and motivation this article to improve your web design.