Good design is invisible. When using a well-designed spoon, you don’t notice the spoon – just the warm soup you are enjoying. If you’ve ever thought about designing a spoon, it’s likely due to a problem. The same design principle applies in the digital world. Good design doesn’t announce itself – it makes it easy to do what you’re trying to do.
What is Web Design?
Web design refers to the choices that define the front-end user experience of your website, including decisions regarding site structure, graphic design elements, page layout, and navigation features. Simply put, it is the process of arranging website content so that users can easily access, understand, and navigate the site.
Why is Web Design Important?
Effective web design can help build brand loyalty and trust, increase conversion rates, support search engine optimization strategy, and encourage other desirable actions, such as signing up for marketing communications, exploring a new product line, and engaging with your brand on social media. On the other hand, poor website design can frustrate site visitors and damage brand image. It can also make it difficult or even impossible for potential customers to purchase your products, even if they have already made the decision to do so.
Essential Web Design Tips
1. Keep the design simple: Professional web designers advise brands to opt for simple, clean designs. Avoid design elements that have no clear and necessary function – for example, don’t include an animated banner on the homepage unless there is a strong reason to do so. Choosing a simple homepage design can also help focus the user’s attention on critical information and cues, making the site easy for users to understand and navigate.
2. Meet expectations: Brands often try to delight customers by surprising them, but when it comes to web design, there is a strong case for expectations. Users find typical sites – or sites that align with their expectations regarding design and layout – more appealing than those that do not.
3. Consider font styles: Best practices for website fonts include using no more than three different fonts and presenting each font in no more than three sizes. Avoid hard-to-read choices like script fonts and pay attention to the high contrast between font color and background – if you have a website with a dark background, for example, choose a white or light font color.
4. Add metadata: Metadata is information that tells search engines about the content of your site. This includes page description, headings, title tags, alt image tags, and featured image tags. Metadata does not directly appear in your website’s design, but it can affect how information is retrieved by search engines and ease the navigation of your content. It can also make your site more accessible by supporting assistive technologies, which are tools that help people with disabilities access information online.
5. Use colors strategically: Your branding principles may include primary, secondary, and tertiary color palettes, but that doesn’t mean you should use all 21 of your brand colors on your site. As a rule of thumb, use no more than three colors (including white). Relying on a simplified color scheme can reduce visual complexity and increase contrast between visual elements.
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Mobile Compatibility: Mobile traffic accounts for nearly three-quarters of web traffic for retail, and current devices come in different shapes and sizes. While the initial approach to mobile site design focused on creating different versions of the site for different aspect ratios, current best practices emphasize responsive design. Responsive sites display well on any device size, so you can be sure that key features like the checkout button or navigation menu are not cut off for users accessing your site via a device type you didn’t expect.
7. Optimize Checkout Page Design to Reduce Cart Abandonment: Online retailers can design checkout processes and pages to reduce cart abandonment rates. According to studies, 18% of consumers say they abandoned their cart due to an overly complicated checkout process, and 19% due to insufficient trust in payment processing security. Keep checkout pages simple, and use trust badges to increase consumer confidence in payment systems. Easy checkout facilitated with Shopify POS.
8. Use Internal Links Strategically: Internal links can enhance search engine results performance and help users navigate your website – but make sure you’re thinking about using links to direct users toward critical pages (not away from them).
9. Invest in Photography: Images can be an effective way to communicate with your target audience, enhance your brand, and increase engagement on your site. Your investment in high-quality images can maximize these benefits. Set up ideal product photography arrangements and invest in user-generated content strategies or hire a photographer to capture actual images of your customers and team.
10. Use Visual Hierarchy: Visual hierarchy refers to the order in which users interact with different design elements, and it’s a key concept in typography and the design of visual page elements. Components of visual hierarchy include relative position, size, and visual contrast. Understanding how these elements affect user experience can help ensure that visitors focus on the most important elements on your site. The larger and more visually appealing the element, the more important it seems.
11. Be Consistent: Users learn how to navigate each site, so consistency is crucial for providing a good user experience. For example, if the main navigation bar on the homepage is aligned to the top right, users will look for it there on subsequent web pages, and if primary CTA buttons are orange rectangles, users will expect the same style for other CTA buttons.
FAQs about Website Design Tips
What are the steps to designing a website?
The steps in the web design process are research, planning, design, implementation, user testing, and launch.
What are the principles of web design?
The main principles of web design are consistency, simplicity, and usability.
What is the best way to format a website?
Good formatting is clean, simple, and aligns with user expectations. You can browse competitor sites for ideas on standard formats for your type of site.
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