Introduction
Most people see website design as a way to put out a pretty look. Choose some nice colors, add a hero image, and might as well use a modern font, and there we go. But that’s not at all what it is.Good design is not so much about looks and color as it is about functionality. What a person does once they arrive at your site is what visitors should be looking at. Do they find what they are looking for? Do they see that they can trust you? Do they return? Those issues are not addressed by a pretty homepage. Instead, they are answered by the quality of the site’s structure beneath the surface.
Here is a look into the basic tenants that set apart which sites function from which ones just exist.
1. Design for Mobile First
If you still include mobile as an afterthought, you are designing for the minority. Mobile has reached a point where it is a large component of global web traffic. Also, many users will not return to a site that they had a bad mobile experience with.Mobile first is not about simplifying what is put on a mobile device. It is about beginning with the mobile screen and growing from there. This is the approach taken by design companies, which do that very well. When working within constraints, better decisions tend to follow. The clutter is removed at the very start. That discipline also benefits the desktop version..
One practical way to test this: Pull out your phone and visit our site right now and try to perform a task a new visitor would do. Buy something. Find our contact page. Read a blog post. If you are having to pinch and scroll to the side, you’ve got some work to do.
2. Keep It Simple
In your head there is a perfect version of the site that has all features, which include every announcement and, in detail, every product. That version will mislead your users..People don’t use websites like a book. They scan. They are at a decision point of stay or go and that which they decide very fast. A cluttered page gives them no reason to stay so they leave..
Minimalism is not a trend. It is a response to what people do in the online world. Each element of a page is put to the test. If a section, image, or paragraph of text does not add to the visitor’s action, it may as well not be there at all. Also, with minimal design, pages load faster, which search engines love.
3. Navigation Should Feel Obvious
Navigation is a feature that you only notice when it is broken. When it works well, users just flow through your site without thinking about it. When it doesn't, they leave..The rule is simple: Don’t make visitors guess. The kind of site it is should be clear -- if it’s B2B or a portfolio. Use plain language in your menu, not inside jargon. “Solutions" doesn’t tell a visitor anything. “What We Do" or “Services" tell them exactly what they will find. Keep your main menu to five or six items at most. If you have more pages than that, group them logically in drop downs..
In the same way that goes for your page structure. If a user lands on a blog post and is interested in learning more about our product they should be able to easily find that info. Good navigation sets up those paths in the background, without being in your face.
4. Visual Hierarchy Guides Attention
Not all elements on your page are of equal importance; thus, not all should take up the same space or visual weight. Visual hierarchy is what you use to put forward what is most important to a visitor before you even say the word..Your heading should take up the most space and be the boldest. Subheadings should follow below in size. Supporting text should be the smallest and lightest. Buttons should pop out. Footnotes should stay at the bottom..
When those relationships break down pages become flat and lifeless to read. Users end up seeing a wall of content with no clue where to begin. In the case of a product landing page for example do not give equal visual weight to a testimonial, a feature list, a newsletter sign up, and a buy button. One element is more important than the other. The design should make that clear..
Typography is a key element here. Font size, weight, and line space all play into what is important. If this is done right, users will consume the content in the exact order planned.
5. Stay Consistent Throughout
Consistency is something that often gets taken for granted. As you go from page to page and your button style changes, or you see that the heading font is different on mobile, or note how the color palette shifts in certain sections of your site, users notice. Perhaps not at a conscious level but it does chip away at trust..A quality site is that which was created by experts. Incoherence is what you get from a site that has been put together by many hands without a core idea. It may also contain the same info as that of the first, but which site do users prefer to the second?.
Set out your design system at the start. Use no more than 2 or 3 fonts, a determined set of colors, and a consistent space scale. Then apply it company-wide. This is not to say you can’t evolve, rather that each element of your site should present as a part of the whole..
This also at times requires a third-party perspective that a client may not have. A custom website design agency is used to building these systems from scratch and keeping them consistent across every page, template, and update down the line, which is harder to do alone once a site grows past a handful of pages.
6. Build for Everyone
Accessibility is an afterthought that usually doesn’t get addressed until there is a complaint or legal issue to deal with. It should be thought of differently..About 15% of the world's population lives with some form of disability. That’s not a small group. It’s very large. Also, what is done to make a site accessible, which includes great color contrast, easy-to-read font sizes, and navigation by keyboard-friendly design, and descriptive alt text for images, also improves it for all users?.
In this case there is a double win for SEO. Search engines treat your site as do assistive technologies. What is often found is that which is accessible does in fact rank better. It doesn’t often happen that what is proper also is what is strategic.
7. Make Your CTAs Impossible to Miss
Every page needs to do that which propels the user forward. It should lead them towards a purchase, a sign-up, or a phone call. Your call to action is the bridge that goes from their reading to their action..A CTA lost in a sea of text doesn’t work. One that is hard to notice doesn’t work. One that uses vague language like "Learn More" barely works. The best CTAs are specific, visible, and put where the visitor is already in the right frame of mind..
In many of the cases, experience has shown that putting the CTA out where it is the first thing users see improves engagement and conversions. It is clear that direct CTAs do a better job at getting clicks than vague or generic calls to action. That is not a small thing. It is often the difference between a site that does business and one that only looks like it does.
Rounding It Up
None of these principles stand alone. A mobile-friendly site with poor navigation is still going to be a frustration. A very pretty site with no clear CTA is just a brochure. They all play into each other..The good thing is you don’t have to fix everything at once. Identify the primary area in which your site is failing and begin with that. It is clear that small improvements add up fast in terms of user experience. Also, which in large part almost always shows that better user experience brings better business results.