The Top Web Design Tips That Will Improve Your Skills
Social Media
Written by John Ranby
22nd October 2015
Designing a website can be a difficult, time-consuming and detailed job that often become frustrating for the designer. We have compiled a list of tools that will help the tedious process feel a bit easier.
Don’t add too much colour
Having too much colour on a website can distract the audience from the content. Use a neutral base colour such as black, white or grey and then add colour on top such as on banners and borders. Having dashes of colour rather than block colour has been proven to also be more effective and often guides the audience to important areas. Having a colour scheme is also essential as too many different colours will again distract attention.
There’s no need to buy expensive programmes to create a prototype
All computers, whether working on a Mac or Windows, have a range of programmes already downloaded that work excellently for creating a prototype of a page. The most effective is Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows or Keynote for Mac which allows you to layout the page correctly and even add details such as buttons. This way, there’s no need to pay for programmes such as Photoshop!
Don’t distract them with Social Media Buttons
Although having social media buttons allows the audience to engage with the business on another platform, why do you want to lose the audience when you took so long designing the website? Hide the social media buttons further on the website so that the audience have to spend longer on the website before moving on. Placing them on pages such as ‘Contact Us’ is common and is often one of the last pages that your audience will look at.
Will I get lost on the website?
Lots of different links provides lots of information about the business but can also confuse the audience as they may get lost, frustrated and eventually leave the site. Keeping a website navigation simple and with links back to the previous page allows the audience to easily navigate themselves without getting frustrated.luk.com
Banners and sidebars are distractions
Despite being attractive, they cause a distraction from the article and the audience may then get distracted to another location. Tests have found that as well as engaging the audience to the article, the call to action at the end is also increasing.
Test your ideas on paper too
Planning your idea on paper is also helpful and essential as it can often be a great opportunity for your team members to input more ideas. It also gives you the opportunity to overview all the details and can be easier to spot any mistakes or changes you’d like to make.
Make sure you have a professional logo
The logo is one of the first things that is seen on the website and therefore must be professional otherwise the audience will not believe that the business is professional either and leave the site. Most websites also use the logo as a link back to the homepage of the website and placing it in the top left corner of the page is the common place for it to be placed.
How unique is your design?
Using elements from other web designs or taking inspiration from them is very useful but can be dangerous as it can become too similar. Having a unique design will make your web design memorable too as the audience will remember your website for certain elements of your sight.
