It’s no secret that the basis for the success of any website is, first of all, its design!!
And by efficiency, we mean not only a pleasant appearance, but also ease of use!!
From the first visit to your website, a potential client should understand where to navigate and how easily the information can be gathered. To achieve, you have to follow some simple rules for web page designing, like:
- The functional design of the website makes it easier for an ordinary user to work with it. The pages should be logically sorted, and the topics of the articles in them should correspond to the sections as much as possible;
- Attractive graphics should help to grab the user’s attention and turn them into a customer. The appearance of the resource becomes its business card, which affects the promotion;
- The effective design of pages on the internet will subsequently affect the promotion of the website. Therefore, it is worth thinking about page attachments, a font that is easy to read, and the overall palette of the website. Consider this when you think over the web design of your resource.
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Above are some basic rules that you should follow if you want your website to get noticed by all visiting it. These rules are also followed by top website designing agencies which makes websites good for visitors as well as search engines. Of course, you won’t be able to take everything into account right away, but these differences will help you get started.
How to Create an Outstanding Website with Leading Website Design Principles
Psychology of Website Users
Human actions are aimed at achieving results in the shortest possible time. Of course, this also applies to visits to web pages. User behaviour is a lot like shopping. They know why they have come, and therefore go to specific points. At the same time, the user wants to find them as quickly as possible. In the absence of a specific goal, they are looking for something interesting. Therefore, surfing is very fast, which means there is a small fraction of time to attract attention.
- The User Loves Quality: The layout of the sections, the size of the fonts, the clarity of the images – all of this quickly catches the user’s eye. One mistake in a word or a blurry picture quickly scares away and provokes pressing the “Back” button.
- The User Scans: The buyer does not go around all the shelves to find the product. They focus on the “anchors” (vegetables, “clothes” etc.). Likewise, the website user quickly navigates through the key points of the website in search of necessary or interesting information. As already mentioned, they want to get what they want in a short period.
- The User Does Not Tolerate: Surfing the internet should be relaxing. If a web page forces you to understand the material or look for a key point for a long time, the user moves to some other website.
- Users Rely on Intuition: Almost always, visitors browse the services rather than read all the material. Neglecting this detail will confuse the visitor.
- The User Loves the Control: When moving to the next section, no one expects pop-ups or ads. After all, they lead to additional clicks that are very annoying. The website visitor makes decisions and wants to get the result right away, and not cope with incorrect linking.
But for the result to be achieved even faster, it is not enough to adhere to this strategy. Hence, for your convenience, here, in this article, we are presenting to you the website design principles of creating a successful website. Let’s get started!!
Organize and Arrange Information Correctly on the Webpage
Try to think through everything to the smallest detail and decide what you want to focus the user’s attention on in the first place. As a rule, all people read from left to right, so if you have something on which you want to immediately focus the user’s attention, for example, text or a photograph, place them closer to the upper left corner, as the user’s gaze will slide there automatically after opening the page.
Grab Attention with Contrast
Moreover, you can use not only the contrast of colours, which of course is the most important factor in design but also the contrast of fonts, sizes, etc. First, you need to decide on the main concepts of the page design, and then highlight the main elements through contrast. Text or photos highlighted in a different contrasting colour, or large in size, automatically grab the user’s attention.
You can also use a different font to select the text, but the main thing is not to overdo it. Remember the rules of good form; use no more than 2, 3 fonts in your design. Also, when choosing a contrasting colour, do not forget about the colour scheme, use the colour wheel to select the desired combination.
Don’t Forget About the Colour
Colour is an essential design component. Its choice can influence a person’s emotional perception of information. Different colours can set the order in which the user’s attention is focused on objects painted in different colours. Here are some examples of associations caused by a person by one colour or another:
- Yellow is associated with energy and light, it can draw attention, for example, that’s why taxis are painted yellow.
- Green is associated with nature, health and beauty and inspires confidence.
- Red is associated with danger, passion, it calls for action or, on the contrary, warns of danger.
- Blue is associated with reliability and calmness. This colour is often chosen as the main colour in the design of websites for law enforcement agencies and not only, as it symbolizes stability and security.
- Black is associated with austerity and formality, authority and power. Nothing makes a photo stand out better than a black background. Any bright colour contrasts with black. This is why many photographers choose it as their main portfolio site.
To be in trend, use the current colour scheme at the time of creation.
Use Repetition
The website should be developed using the same approach and methodology. When developing the right design, you cannot avoid repetition, otherwise, the website will look not logical. By repetition, we mean the use of the same set of fonts, the same ways of highlighting important elements, the same colour scheme both on one page of the site and on the rest.
Selection of Fonts
A general rule of thumb is to use no more than two different fonts in your site layout. The selection of fonts and colours is an integral part of project preparation. We would not recommend using more than two different fonts, but it really depends on each specific case.
You can use more or less than two. The general idea is to choose a font that is easy to read on large amounts of text, looks good in headlines, and can be used in action calls. Don’t be afraid to use large fonts, and in general, be creative but consistent.
Minimalism
Today it is a trend in all areas, from room interior to photography. Web design is no exception. There are two concepts; positive and negative space. The first characterizes the part of the webpage that contains any information. The second is an empty space, a white space.
Many are afraid to leave white space on the pages. People think this gives the impression of being incomplete. But this is a huge mistake that makes many sites unreadable.
In this regard, Apple’s website design can be considered a reference. There is always a minimum of information on the screen, but it is enough to answer all questions and a CTA (Call To Action). In many ways, its design is similar to the presentation of some product of the company. There is always a big picture on the screen and one or two sentences or a list.
When visiting a page, the user conditionally divides the page according to the priority and importance of information. This makes it easier for the user to perceive content and make a decision. That is why you can get acquainted with the next gadget from Apple in a matter of minutes. Very often flat design is used for these purposes. Here are some tips for using white space properly:
- Large font – less space between letters and vice versa.
- One and a half line-Height (150% of the font size). If using small print, this parameter should be higher.
- Divide information into small blocks.
Navigation Bar
Headings or slogans should be highlighted in capital letters. There should always be plenty of space in between as they are key elements of the website. Strive to show the things that matter most. Modern web designers are often criticized for their approach to using “steps” (similar to 1-2-3-done!), huge buttons, tons of effects, and more.
But from a design point of view, such elements are not that bad. On the contrary, such elements are very effective because they make it easier for users to navigate between parts of the website.
It is advisable to combine a pleasant design with a clear structure. Choose light colours so that it becomes easy for the users to see the main elements with a naked eye. Letting users know what features are available is a fundamental principle of successful design.
It doesn’t matter in what way you will achieve this. What matters is how easily the content is perceived and how easy it is for users to work with the system.
Test Early, Test Often
This principle (TETO, “Test Early, Test Often”) should be applied to every web project because usability tests often show all the biggest problems with a given design.
Tests are often too late or too infrequent. Sometimes the wrong thing is being tested. It should be understood that most design decisions are made locally. In other words, you cannot be sure that one markup is better than another because the decision is very dependent on where you look at it (initial requirements, expectations of contributors, budget, etc.).
A Few Important Points
- It is believed that testing with one user is 100 times better than testing with no users at all, and testing with one user at the start of a project is better than testing with 50 users at the end. According to Boehm’s Law, mistakes are most common in the early stages of design and design; the later they are corrected, the more expensive it is for the project.
- Testing is an iterative process. To make it big, you should build something, test it, fix it, and test it again. Perhaps, you will find problems that went unnoticed during the first testing in the “garbage” of other errors.
- Usability tests are always useful. You will either see current problems or none. This is useful for the project anyway.
- According to Weinberg’s Law, developers are unable to test their code. This also applies to designers. After you have been working on the website for several weeks, your eyes are blurred and you can no longer look at the project in a new way. You know how it works from the inside and how it actually works; independent testers and your users do not have this knowledge.
Concluding Remarks
Here are the basic principles that you should use in your website design. Their main goal is to facilitate the perception of information by the users, only then they will want to stay on your website or return.
But remember that each project is individual, and it is up to you to decide what principles you will be guided by when creating a particular one.
We hope our article helped you learn how to design a successful website. If there are some queries or suggestions then let us know in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!!