11 Ideas That Can Help You Make Your Website Great!

Creating a good website design is not an easy task, given that the web is a very competitive place. A mediocre website may not take up too much of your time and energy, but to create something that has a long-lasting impact and fulfills the expectations of the client takes some effort. Getting people to your website is only half the battle. Once they are there, you need to keep them engaged. You also want to give them reasons to return to the site in the future and to share the site with others in their social circles. If this sounds too much, that’s because it is.

Like the phrase ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, effective web design is judged by the users of the website and not the website owners. There are many factors that affect the usability of a website, and it is not just about form (how good it looks), but also function (how easy is it to use).

In the digital age that we live in, having a professional website is an absolute necessity for almost all kind of business ventures. A great website can simultaneously operate as a marketing tool, a store platform, a display of works and skills, a communication channel and as an engine for branding. If you can create a website that can multitask these duties efficiently, you are in for the long run and a lot of money.

Websites that are not well designed tend to perform poorly and have sub-optimal Google Analytics metrics (e.g. high bounce rates, low time on site, low pages per visit and low conversions).

There is no shortcut towards making a web page that makes people visit again and again, but there are a few key principles to focus on, that can help improve the pages and turn them into something your visitors are interested in reading and passing on to others.

Now, how does one do that? A common method is to make the site as easy to use and user-friendly as possible. It should also load quickly and provide what the readers want right up front.

We all want to have a beautifully designed website and yet, it’s excruciatingly hard. So, what is it that makes good web design that great designers know and the rest of us don’t?

Without further ado, here we explore the top 10 web design principles that will make your website aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, engaging, and effective:

1- Define what success means:

Before starting the work, you need to know what is it you are designing for. Besides the description of the site, you need to know what the expectations are for it. Take a news site for example, what’s the goal? Is it to make as many ad impressions as possible or is it to provide the best reading experience? How are those goals going to be measured?

Good redesigns are not necessarily the flashiest ones but the ones that improve performance over time. Talking to your clients before starting your design is key to define all of this and to learn what their concerns and goals beyond the written SOW (statement of work) are.

2- Put your thoughts on paper first:

Very initial sketches of an illustration series about cities around the world

This seems obvious but I’ve found too often that designers jump straight into their work before giving any thought to the problem they are trying to solve. Design is about solving problems, and those problems can’t be resolved through gradients or shadows but rather through a good layout and a clear hierarchy.

Think about the content, the layout and the functionality before starting to drop shadows. Make sure those thoughts are in line with your client’s goals and feel free to share them. No client ever has complained to me about over-communicating ideas.

3- Start sketching a top-level framework:

Sketching a basic wire frame will help you structure the layout

When I’m asked to create a look, and feel for a project, the first thing I do is to come up with a top-level framework that solves all the design problems. The framework is the UI that surrounds the content and helps the user perform actions and navigate through it. It includes the navigation and components like sidebars and bottom bars. If you approach your design from this perspective, you will have a clear understanding of what your layout needs will be when designing sections beyond the homepage.

4- Add a grid:

An example of a 978 grid with a 10px baseline

It’s as simple as it sounds. Before starting to design anything, you need a proper grid. There are no valid excuses for starting without a grid – and if you don’t, I can assure you, the design won’t look as good. A grid will help you to structure the layout of the different sections; it will guide you through the specific screen size requirements, and help you to create responsive templates, so you’re consistent in terms of spacing as well as many other design issues.

5- Choosing the typography:

A general rule of thumb is to use no more than two different typefaces in a website layout.

Exploring different typefaces and colors is part of the discovery phase of a project. I would recommend not using more than two different typefaces in a website, but it really depends on its nature. Overall, choose a font that is easy to read for big chunks of text, and be more playful with titles and calls to action. Don’t be afraid of using big fonts and be creative and consistent when using typography

6- Load time:

No one wants to visit a website that takes too long to load. Tips to make page load times effective include optimization of image sizes (size and scale), combining code into a central CSS or JavaScript file (this reduces HTTP requests) and compressing HTML, CSS, JavaScript.

7- Dividing the layout:

The simpler the structure of the site, the easier it is for users to navigate. Each section in your site needs to tell a story; it needs a reason and an outcome for the user. The layout should help the content to highlight the most important pieces in that story.

There shouldn’t be too many callouts on a page – everything should drive to that final ‘What can I do here?’ Think about the simplest layout you can imagine and start adding components that are necessary. In the end, you’ll be surprised how hard is to keep it simple.

8- Attention to detail:

This statement has been overused lately but it’s not always visible in the final product. Depending on the concept behind the project, that ‘attention to detail’ can mean different things.

It could be a small interaction, an unexpected animation or an aesthetic touch like a little gradient in a button or a subtle stroke around a box in the background. But overall this touch is essential.

9- Creating a multi-faceted website:

Bear in mind how your layout will work on different devices and screen sizes so that you can solve different problems through different constraints. With web design, the constraints range from conceptual and technical problems to content-related issues.

You need to build a site that can work not only in the ideal scenario, but also in the worst-case scenario. For instance, a user could be using a small phone screen or a mobile browser that is not supported.

The website should display the ideal amount of text and show the site inside the ideal browser size i.e. the most common scenario for most users using it.

10- Sharing designs with the clients in advance:

When proposing an interactive concept or a design ‘look and feel’, you need to ensure that you and the client are both on the same page as soon as possible. Avoid spending too much time on a concept before sharing it with the client for you risk rejection and a lot of time wasted.

Once the initial concept is approved you can relax a little bit and start production. But after presenting the first concept, if the client doesn’t fall in love with it, you should gather enough feedback to bring a second more appropriate concept to the table.

11- Explaining the web design with as much clarity as possible:

It’s just as important to produce great work as it is to present it. Your best design can be ignored or thrown away if you don’t present it properly. When it comes to presentations, you want to explain your work like you’re showing it to a four-year-old. Always keep in mind that what is totally clear to you might not be that clear to somebody seeing your design for the first time.

Once the project is done and you get the approval from the client/producer promote it, and if possible create a case study with the work in progress and designs that didn’t make it to the final release. You will be helping by contributing to the community’s knowledge and get valuable feedback in return.