Creating a visually appealing and user-friendly website is crucial for any online business looking to make a lasting impression on visitors. From captivating graphics to seamless navigation, there are key web design do’s and don’ts that can make or break your site’s success.
In this blog post, we’ll delve into the essential web design tips that will help you create a well-designed website that not only looks great, but also drives traffic and boosts conversions. Whether you’re designing your website from scratch or you’re refreshing your existing design, these tips will set you on the path to digital success. Let’s dive right in.
The do’s of web design
Here are some essential ‘do’s’ of web design that any business should keep in mind when starting out.
Do map out the user journey and create a sitemap
The whole purpose of your website is to navigate the user to your service or product. Before you design a website, you need to understand how you can effectively achieve this. Designing a sitemap of your website is vital and understanding how to get the user from point A to point B is what will separate a good website from a bad one.
Do keep your style consistent
Throughout the entire design process, one of our top web design tips to remember is to ensure the design is consistent overall. The look and feel should be the same across all of your site’s pages. This includes colour schemes, typefaces and the style of imagery. Following these rules will visually satisfy the user and ensure their experience on your website is a good one.
Do optimise for mobile
In today’s modern world, people are browsing and shopping on mobile devices over desktop. With that, customers expect websites to be fully responsive for the mobile experience. The biggest principle when optimising your website for mobile is ensuring that when the user is on your website, that all critical information is displayed correctly and easily accessible to them.
Do optimise your website for search engines
Your web design is important but so is your content. Ensuring you’re optimising your site for SEO is important for driving traffic to your website. This includes using target keywords throughout your headings and titles, meta descriptions and content.
However, overwhelming your pages with too many keywords can affect the readability of your content and have a negative impact. Websites that don’t follow these rules, don’t rank well on Google and other search engines. There are so many web pages being added every day that some websites suffer and find it difficult breaking through the noise.
Do always keep the user in mind
As we’ve mentioned above, your web design should be all about the user journey and experience, so it’s vital to keep them in the forefront of your mind. A successful website is one that is easy-to-use and clearly mapped out for the visitor. Ensuring this is the main focal point when designing your website is essential.
The don’ts of web design
Now we’ve highlighted the do’s, let take a look at the don’ts of web design.
Don’t create clutter
When designing a website, you want it to be as easy-to-use as possible. This can be achieved by making things simple. When it comes to the top-level navigation links, limiting these to as few as possible is beneficial to the user journey.
The ideal number of links to have in the navigation would be about 7 links (yes, the lucky number 7). It’s understandable that this may be difficult, as you don’t want to make it hard for the user to find critical information. This is where a strong sitemap comes into play, ensuring all critical pages are easily accessible, such as your about page or contact page. However, not everything needs to be in the top-level navigation – this can be reduced by adding links in the footer.
Don’t use too many typefaces or colours
When you start to design a website, it’s good to limit yourself to how many typefaces you use. Limiting yourself to a maximum of two to three typefaces is the recommended amount. Including more than the recommended amount will make the website become much more distracting and confusing for the user.
Similar to typefaces, it’s always good to avoid using too many colours in your design. Colour has meaning and conveys emotions and feelings. Usually, the colours chosen for a brand have a deeper meaning and message. Using too many colours in your design would be like trying to portray a million feelings and mixed messages all at once. This can become very confusing to the user and it’s best to keep your colour pallet limited throughout your website.
Don’t forget to test your functionality
Ensuring your website looks good on desktop, tablet and mobile is not enough. Testing the functionality of your design is vital. Just because your website is designed for a mobile-responsive platform doesn’t mean it’s going to look great on every phone or tablet. Test your website on as many mobile devices as you can and double-check the look and feel on the overall design. Sometimes websites need to be tweaked on mobile to improve the user experience.
Don’t forget about the speed and performance
The speed and performance of your website are vital to keeping the user on your website. If the user has to wait for your website to load, the chances are they will click off your page before it has loaded. The amount of time it takes for your website to load has a huge impact on SEO and conversion rate.
This is why it’s very important to ensure that the images you use across your website are resized and compressed to the smallest size without affecting the quality. This will speed up the loading time of your website and ultimately keep the user on your page for longer.
Don’t forget to test, test, test
Once everything has been completed on your website, the next stage is to take it for a test drive. Making sure everything is working properly is critical before you launch your new website. Be sure to think like a user when testing too. Imagine different scenarios the user will take on your website to ensure you don’t miss any critical bugs or performance issues.
Looking for professional web design services?
We hope our above do’s and don’ts of web design help you with your next design project. By keeping these web design tips in mind, you can create a well-designed website that is visually appealing and provides your audience with a great user experience.
However, if you’re looking for professional web design services, you’ve come to the right place. Contact us today to learn how we can supercharge your new website and maximise your visibility online.