A strong online presence is now more important than ever in this day and age. So, whether you’re a content creator or an entrepreneur, creating a website as your platform for connecting and engaging with a global audience is crucial.
Unfortunately, as important as it is, it can be quite challenging to design a successful website. As the World Wide Web expands exponentially, so does the competition between the countless websites that are a part of it. To thrive in the digital landscape, it’s essential to make your website stand out and reach top search engine results. This is where web design comes into play. From attracting users to increasing engagement and generating leads, web design not just improves aesthetics, but enhances functionality as well. So, to help you create an amazing website and gain a competitive edge, here are some important design tips you should follow.
Add photos
With the help of photos, you can take users on a visual journey and convey ideas to increase engagement and attention. Websites often use photos for breaking up text, guiding users, illustrating concepts, and creating captivating backgrounds. But photos are not only aesthetically pleasing; they are also incredibly easy to integrate into websites. Moreover, unlike graphics and animations, photos are quick to load even on older systems and slow internet speeds. This means you won’t need to compromise the functionality of your website for visual appeal.
While you can take your own photos, using stock photos is always a better idea. Doing so will save you time and quickly develop an amazing design for your website. What’s best is that stock photos allow you to diversify your website’s visual appeal. But most importantly, with the help of stock photos, you won’t need to spend tons of money on design. So, make sure to get free stock photos and save your time and money.
Focus on minimalism
Different web design elements, font styles, logos, and graphics can seem appealing. However, the excessive use of design elements creates nothing but clutter. Adding everything on the same page reduces the aesthetic appeal. But more importantly, it undermines elements that may be of more importance to the user. With a cluttered website, users will not be able to find the information they need and will soon lose interest.
So, it’s best to stick to simplicity and create a minimalistic look for your website. To do so, emphasize important elements of your website as much as possible and avoid distractive elements. An effective way to achieve this is with the use of white space. You may think white space may make your website appear empty; however, it creates a clean design and makes it easier for users to notice important information. Keeping this in mind, it’s a good idea to surround important elements with white space.
Enhance readability
Text-based content and information will likely make up the majority of your website. Keeping this in mind, ensuring users can consume your content by improving readability is crucial. For this purpose, you should particularly focus on typography. Avoid using distracting and flashy fonts that may ruin the user experience. Instead, go for simple font styles with an appropriate size that all types of users will be comfortable with. Line spacing is equally important when it comes to readability. Test your website with different font styles, sizes, and line spacing to find the perfect combination for better readability.
Moreover, the contrast between text and background is important in readability. You must ensure the text is easily visible and does not blend in with the background colors. Avoid using colors that are too bright. You can also add a dark mode to make it more comfortable for users to read text in low-light conditions. In fact, 64.6% of people expect websites to come with dark mode.
Optimize for mobiles
More than half of the website traffic comes from smartphones rather than desktop or laptop computers. However, websites designed for desktops do not work well on smartphones. Not only are they unresponsive, but they often have missing elements due to improper dimensions. So, without optimizing your website for mobile usage, you will lose a significant number of visitors. You will also lose top positions on search engine results as search engine algorithms use mobile optimization to rank websites. To avoid such a situation, creating a mobile-friendly version of your website is essential.
Smartphones have less screen space than desktops, so consider reducing design elements further. You will also need to prioritize minimalism to create a clutter-free look on smartphones. Additionally, you can use smartphone touch controls to create usability features. For instance, users can swipe to access certain menus and sidebars. Most importantly, design your website as responsive as possible for smartphones. For this reason, it’s best to avoid using websites with “m.” in their URLs, as they can be slow to load.
Organize navigation
One of the worst website designs is one with a poor navigation system. A navigation system highlights places users can visit on your website and helps them find out what they need. On the other hand, websites with confusing and disorganized navigation systems can frustrate users and cause them to lose interest. So, if you want to avoid losing the attention of your website users, focus on organizing the navigation system of your website through better design. For this purpose, it’s essential to provide meaningful labels to the elements of your menus. This will help users click on links that lead them exactly where they want to be.
Moreover, you must make your website menus easily accessible and visible to the user at all times. To do so, you will need to first experiment with different menu placements. You can also gather user data on how well they interact with your website while using different formats for navigation. Doing so will help you identify the most suitable format.
Conclusion
Websites are the perfect tool to build a strong online presence. With a platform on the internet, you can reach your audience and engage with them. To make your website stand out from others on the internet, focus on building an attractive website with unique design elements. So, consider the design tips mentioned above for a successful website.
