PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE WEB DESIGN
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). So what makes good web
design? Below we explore the top 10 web design principles that will make your
website aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, engaging, and effective.
1. 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.
2. COMMUNICATION
People on the web tend to want information quickly, so it is
important to communicate clearly, and make your information easy to read and
digest. Some effective tactics to include in your web design include:
organising information using headlines and sub headlines, using bullet points
instead of long windy sentences, and cutting the waffle.
3. TYPEFACES
In general, Sans Serif fonts such as Arial and Verdana are
easier to read online (Sans Serif fonts are contemporary looking fonts without
decorative finishes). The ideal font size for reading easily online is 16px and
stick to a maximum of 3 typefaces in a maximum of 3 point sizes to keep your
design streamlined.
4. COLOURS
A well thought out colour palette can go a long way to enhance
the user experience. Complementary colours create balance and harmony. Using
contrasting colours for the text and background will make reading easier on the
eye. Vibrant colours create emotion and should be used sparingly (e.g. for
buttons and call to actions). Last but not least, white space/ negative space
is very effective at giving your website a modern and uncluttered look.
5. IMAGES
A picture can speak a thousand words, and choosing the right
images for your website can help with brand positioning and connecting with
your target audience. If you don’t have high quality professional photos on
hand, consider purchasing stock photos to lift the look of your website. Also
consider using infographics, videos and graphics as these can be much more effective
at communicating than even the most well written piece of text.
6. NAVIGATION
Navigation is about how easy it is for people to take action
and move around your website. Some tactics for effective navigation include a
logical page hierarchy, using bread crumbs, designing clickable buttons, and
following the ‘three click rule’ which means users will be able to find the
information they are looking for within three clicks.
7. GRID BASED LAYOUTS
Placing content randomly on your web page can end up with a
haphazard appearance that is messy. Grid based layouts arrange content into
sections, columns and boxes that line up and feel balanced, which leads to a
better looking website design.
8. “F” PATTERN DESIGN
Eye tracking studies have identified that people scan
computer screens in an “F” pattern. Most of what people see is in the top and
left of the screen and the right side of the screen is rarely seen. Rather than
trying to force the viewer’s visual flow, effectively designed websites will
work with a reader’s natural behavior and display information in order of
importance (left to right, and top to bottom).
9. LOAD TIME
Everybody hates a website that takes ages to load. Tips to make page load times more effective
include optimizing image sizes (size and scale), combining code into a central
CSS or JavaScript file (this reduces HTTP requests) and minify HTML, CSS,
JavaScript (compressed to speed up their load time).
10: 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).
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