Web designers work for web users; these are the people who will tell you if a certain web page is designed well or not. They do this based on a couple of things, such as the aesthetic appeal of the website and whether it is user friendly or not. In this case, those websites that have been designed well will perform very well, while those that have been designed poorly will perform badly, and may register things such as low conversion rates, and low traffic. There are many things web designers need to keep in mind in order to ensure that they are designing good websites. Here are some of the best philosophies that you need to keep in mind if you would like to design some of the best performing websites:
1. Use of divine proportions
Everything on your website has to be proportional in order to appear aesthetically pleasing. The golden ratio is important to many designers because the results are pleasing to the eyes of the users. Therefore, you have to learn how to apply it when you are designing your web page so that your users love to see.
2. Navigation
You have to make it easy for your users to move around on your website. Make it for them to take action as well, so that they will get what they were looking for right off the bat. One of the best ways to achieve this is to use a logical page hierarchy, clickable buttons, breadcrumbs among other tools. If users find it easy to get what they are looking for on your website, they will come back.
3. Effective Communication
Website users are always in a hurry, therefore, you have to be able to pass the message clearly and quickly so that they wild it and understand it on the spot. For instance, you can organize your information using titles, subtitles and bullet points instead of writing long sentences that your users will not have time to go through. this will enable them to understand your content quicker, especially if the headlines are clear and eye catching.
4. Visual hierarchy
What you should aim for when designing a web page is attention, and to help you get attention, you should use prominent visuals. Having a visual hierarchy is very important, and every web designer should adopt it if they to attract the right people to their website. You have to ensure that visitors to your website are receiving the information on the website in the right way. For instance, you have to highlight the most important parts of your website more than those which are less important. Use of size and color is key in achieving this.
5. Mobile friendly
Designing a mobile friendly website is a necessity today, especially now that more people are interested in designs that they can access through multiple screen sizes. Therefore, you have to consider building your websites in such a way that they are responsive, so that your website can appear on different screens.
6. Purpose
As you are ultimately designing for your users, you have to ensure that your designs are catering to the needs of the users they are intended for. You have to give every part of your website a purpose so as to ensure that your users find it useful. For instance, if a certain page is dedicated to transactions, you must give your users the tools they will need to effectively do that.
7. The right Typefaces
The right use of typefaces is important in web designing. There are typefaces that are very good when used for online reading such as Arial and Verdana. You also need to have an idea about the right font size to use. The maximum number of fonts you can use on one design is 3, so as not to overcrowd your design. Stick to 3 point sizes too to ensure that your design is rational.
8. White space and clean design
Use of white space or negative space is very important in web design. This is what makes your objects to stand out. Your users are able to see your images, the color and the type that you have used clearly when you leave some spaces in between the images, the graphics, columns and gutters and also lines. A web page that does not have white spaces in it always looks busy and cluttered, and this makes it hard for users to read the information on such sites. Web designers are always asked to stick to simple designs as they are more important and effective.
9. Load time
No one will be impressed by a website that takes so much time to load, regardless of how beautiful or informative it is. You therefore have to learn how to design website’s that are fast to load. There are so many tips that can help you in this, for instance how to optimize image sizes, how to minify HTML, JavaScript or CSS or even how to combine code into central CSS or JavaScript file.
10. Grid Based Layouts
The last thing you need is to make a mess of your website, which is why you have to avoid placing content aimlessly on your pages. Use of grid layouts is one of the best ways to ensure that your content is arranged into different sections, boxes or columns that provide a good balance to your website. The results will be a better looking website that is easy to navigate by your users.
The way you design your website is very important because it can lead to conversion faster than you imagined. There are an immeasurable number of tips that you can use in order to increase your conversion rate, but if your website does not look the part, you may not achieve that quite easily. Web designers should therefore learn how to balance the look and usefulness of their website in order to effectively market their brands.
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