So, how to design a good website?

Good website design needs a wide range of professionals having expertise in different areas. Their collective efforts need to put in when there is a critical decision to take place. Here in this article, we’ll outline the 8 essential principles of good website design which must be pondered while developing a website. These design principles will definitely help web designers to develop awe-inspiring designs and to enhance the usability of a website.

Here is the list of 8 good design principles which will make your website aesthetic, user-friendly, effective, and engaging:

• Purpose

  Good web design always caters to the needs of the user. Are your web visitors looking for information, entertainment, some type of interaction, or to transact with your business? Each page of your website needs to have a clear purpose, and to fulfill a specific need for your website users in the most effective way possible.

• Simple is the best

  Many sites are over-designed, with too many elements on the page, distracting visitors from the purpose of the site. In effective web design, simplicity rules. Simplicity always works in an effective web page design. Clean and fresh design of your website not only makes the website appealing, but also help user to navigate from one page to another seamlessly.Keep your design as simple as possible so that the visitors can feel it easy-to-use and can find their ways easily.

• Consistency

  Consistency in website design matter a lot. Give your attention to match design elements throughout each of the pages. It can be understood that your fonts, sizes, headings, sub-headings, and button styles must be the same throughout the website. Plan everything in advance. Finalize the fonts and the right colors for your texts, buttons etc, and stick to them throughout the development. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) would come in handy to keep the complete information about design styles and elements.

• Typography

  Consider using fonts that are easier to read. The modern sans-serif fonts as Ariel, Helvetica etc. can be used for the body texts. Make proper combinations of typefaces for each and every design elements such as headlines, body texts, buttons etc.

• Color palette and imagery

  A perfect color combination attracts users while a poor combination can lead to distraction. This necessitates you to pick a perfect color palette for your website which can create a pleasing atmosphere, thus leaving a good impact on visitors. Enhance users experience by selecting complementary color palette to give a balanced-look to your website design.

• Navigation

  Navigation is the way finding system used on websites where visitors interact and find what they are looking for. Website navigation is key to retaining visitors. If the websites navigation is confusing visitors will give up and find what they need elsewhere. Keeping navigation simple, intuitive and consistent on every page is key.

• Load Time

  Waiting for a website to load will lose visitors. Nearly half of web visitors expect a site to load in 2 seconds or less and they will potentially leave a site that isn’t loaded within 3 seconds. Optimising image sizes will help load your site faster.

• Mobile Friendly

  It is now commonplace to access websites from multiple devices with multiple screen sizes, so it is important to consider if your website is mobile friendly. If your website is not mobile friendly, you can either rebuild it in a responsive layout (this means your website will adjust to different screen widths) or you can build a dedicated mobile site (a separate website optimised specifically for mobile users).

“ What matters most to your website visitors? ”
“ The essence of your presentation must clearly communicate that your business is the place to solve a specific problem or need. The balance between images and copy are just one part of this process. To appeal to the target audience, emphasis must be placed upon what your customer wants most. For results, it is necessary to research what your customers, as a group, are looking for, and the questions they are asking. Once these needs and wants are identified, you work with these concepts to create a presentation that emphasizes these with color, design, and text. ”

The ultimate purpose of the visitors is to get information, and if your website is able to communicate your visitors efficiently, most probably they would spend more time on your website. Tricks that may work to establish effortless communication with the visitors are – organizing information by making good use of headlines and sub-headlines, cutting the waffle, and using bullet points, rather than long gusty sentences.