Essential Principles for Effective Web Design Every Designer Should Know
The first question come in everyone’s mind that what is web design and why it is very important for all websites? So it is a concept of planning, creating, and maintaining websites which include updating it on a regular basis, colors, content, navigations, search engine optimization, graphic designs, and layouts of the website etc. which makes your website design effective and attractive.
Basic components for good web designs are:
1. Shape – Most people use square and rectangular shape which is not necessary all the time, you can do experiment with any shape you think suitable for your website content and business type.
2. Texture – Texture is one of the best ways to add depth and life to any web design. When used carefully, it can help create an expressive and organic experience but it’s up to you to decide which one you like best for your project.
3. Direction – It is something which makes users make their eyes move from one corner or content of the website to another, so if your website and its content are catchy it will attract more visitors & increase you website engagement rapidly.
4. Color – Another important factor for web design is the color combination. The black and white combination might prove helpful to some particular website but not for all, so use the color combination in a creative way.
Principles
Don’t make users think
Your web design should be simple and easy to understand by every visitor even your content also. When you are making a website the structure and navigation should be like users can easily go from point A to point B with no question mark and confusion in their mind, it will help to increase the usability of the website and also makes it much more engaging and your website become more SEO friendly.
Don’t test users’ patience
In every project when you offer some services and tools make sure the users’ requirement should be at prior, so only fewer actions will be required by their side to test your service. But if a user is new on a site it will first explore your website then maybe they become your customer before that don’t force them to share their private data, it’s not necessary to force users to enter an email address to test the feature otherwise it makes them irritated. So give them time as much as they want.
Manage to focus users’ attention
Websites provide content in two types: static and dynamic, but some forms of user interface attract people more than others. As images are more catchy compared to text and same in the bold and plain text as bold sentences are more attractive than plain sentences in fact, web designers use them for this purpose only because users never read each and everything in detail, they just scroll down faster so it is more important to make your website attractive and catchy towards them.
Accessibility
Another very vital rule that must not be ignored is accessibility when you’re planning to make a website. At the point when visitors enter the site, they should have the access to get to every piece of data in the most effortless way. This implies the content must be readable, the color used must not be harsh on eyes, and the background must not overwhelm the content and so on.
Don’t Confuse them with lots of options
A study has given a result, the more you give options more time will be taken by the user. In the case of web designing the more options you offer to your visitors, the more difficult will the website become to use and browse through. Instead of that, you can make a hierarchy of the main categories which will include the subcategories so this will look simple, elegant and easy to access.
Effective writing
As writing for websites is different from print media the rules and the ideas for it are also different, users never read a whole paragraph or content, they just go through it and read the text which is bold and the content around it.
But a long content without an image is skipped by them because it doesn’t look attractive at all; users nowadays visit a website which contains live demo, videos, less content with images or only images to describe it, but again depends on upon the topic you are writing as some topics need more content than image. This will make your website development better.
Click here options
Another most important principle in web design is the time needed to move to a target is dependent upon the size of the target as well as the distance to the target. It means larger and near the object, the easier it will be to reach. This can effectively upgrade your web design quickly. So if you want to reach out your visitors provide the “click here” or “read more” buttons because it allows them to get closer to your content, by using this visitors will get motivated and click the button.
Don’t be afraid of the white space
White space is something for which web designer should not afraid off because it makes your website easy to read and makes it simpler for clients to see the data given on the site. Complex structures are harder to peruse, filter, analyze and work with. On the off chance that you have to decide between choosing a pattern for dividing two design segments by visible line or by some whitespace, it’s generally better to select the whitespace as it reduces the complexity.
Communication and Content
When you talk about communication with content for web design then it is not related to the customer support, it is related with the information with images, videos, infographics and etc. which is known as a visible language for users. It consists of 3 fundamental principles:
1. Organize – Means the structure you are displaying on the website like the partition of content, navigation etc. Which you have to manage in an easier manner.
2. Economize – Means do quality work with fewer efforts, like your images and videos should be less in numbers but provide quality and informative content which they are looking for.
3. Communicate – Means users must be able to understand each and everything which is given on the website. Like the images, background, animations, content and structure balance of the website.
Test regularly
Basically, a usability test is done for every project, that whether it is working as per the requirements or not. As per the rule of Test Early and Test Often or ‘TETO’ you should test regularly and test one user at the beginning is a smart idea rather than testing 50 users at the end. Because it gives you much time to think of an alternative, increase traffic and sales, less expensive and most important is your website will become the quality website with fewer bugs.
One more thing a web designer should design first then start testing it, fix it and again test. So that it will take less time to solve bugs otherwise it will increase your work.
Effective web design and art is not the same thing. You should design for the user but keeping the business objective in mind and doesn’t have to be colorful and pretty — it needs to be clear and intuitive. Make sure you help your visitors to understand the benefits of your web-site and offer them an easy way to explore and use your site. Using these web design principles you can get financially rewarding results.
