TOP 10 WEB DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Websites that are poorly designed tend to perform below average and don’t have optimal Google Analytics metrics (e.g. low time on site, high bounce rates, low pages per visit and low conversions). So what makes good design? let’s look into the top 10 web design principles that surely make ant website pleasing, easy to use, engaging, and effective.
1. PURPOSE
Good web design always fulfill the needs of the visitor. Are your web user looking for entertainment, information, some type of interaction, or to transact with your business? Each page of your website needs to have a clear viw of purpose, and to fulfill a specific need for your website users in the most effective way possible.
2. COMMUNICATION
People on the web usually want information quickly, so it is important to communicate clearly, and make your information easy to read and digest. Some effective techniques include: presenting information using headlines and sub headlines, using bullet points instead of long paragraphs.
web design principles
3. TYPEFACES
In general, 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. 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 photos on hand, try using stock photos to lift the look of your website. You can also consider videos, infographics. As these can be much effective in web design principles at Presenting than most well written piece of text.
5. COLOURS
A well colour pattern 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, blank space/ negative space is very effective at giving your website a modern look.
6. NAVIGATION
Navigation is about how easy people can take action and move around your website. Some techniques for effective page 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. “F” PATTERN DESIGN
Eye tracking studies have revealed that people see 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, design website with a reader’s natural behavior and display information in order of importance (left to right, and top to bottom).
8. GRID BASED LAYOUTS
Placing content randomly on your web page can end up with a haphazard appearance that is messy. Grid based layouts places content into divided sections, columns and boxes that line up and feel balanced, which leads to a better looking website design.
9. LOAD TIME
The key point in web design principles. Everybody hates a website that takes ages to load. To improve page load time, you can optimize 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 common to use 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 user friendly, you can rebuild it in a responsive design or you can build a dedicated mobile site (a separate website optimised specifically for mobile users).
