User-experience plays a vital role in the success of a website. As web designers, you must ensure that the visitors don’t feel confused while navigating through the webpages. They should get what they are looking for instantly. But in addition to user-experience, there are several other aspects that you need to keep in mind while designing a website.
Beginners often experience lots of roadblocks before building their first website. The following professional-level web design tips should help them overcome those hurdles and build websites that are not only attractive but user-friendly as well.
1. Don’t use more than three fonts
A different font on every page makes your website look unprofessional. In fact, pros believe that it makes your website look messy. Just stick to three fonts and no more: one for the header, one for your web content, and one for the call-to-action message or your logo. Some clients may even ask you to stick to just one font. That’s fine too. Just make sure that the font you choose is legible and you select a good size. 14-16 px is the ideal size for web content.
2. Select the best colors
A cohesive color tone makes your website look superb. Just like fonts, you shouldn’t use too many colors on your website. That only proves that you are new to this industry, and your clients may ask you to edit and tone down the colors. It’s best to stick to a specific color theme, depending on the brand guidelines. Also, don’t forget to use a similar color for call-to-action buttons. If the logo already has a primary color, you can select a couple of complementary colors to give a contrasting effect.
3. Keep a bit of white space
Consider the website as your home’s interiors. Do you paint every corner of the walls and ceilings with your favorite color? You don’t. This allows your furnishings and home’s features to stand out. The same concept applies for your website. Don’t fill every pixel of the website with images, GIFs, or colors. Leave some white space to attract the visitor’s attention to areas where you want them to focus. Most importantly, it makes the website look neat, clean, and uncluttered.
4. Follow a grid system
A clean website design means you are successful in keeping the alignment of buttons, sections, and text blocks straight. This is the time when you should use the grid system. A grid system, because of its block format, makes a big difference when it comes to making your website look professional.
5. Keep responsive web design in mind
Remember, most users will visit the website both from the computer and from the mobile phone. Therefore, you should focus on responsive web design instead of limiting the website’s design to desktop-version only. One of the reasons why following a grid system is so crucial is it enables you to design a responsive website. You can place the blocks, buttons, and sections according to how you want the website to look on a mobile phone.
6. Implement content hierarchies
A webpage full of text may seem boring to many. Visitors may want to click on the back button after reading a few lines. For pages in the website with blog posts, make sure you use subhead hierarchies that come with short body copy. This gives the viewers an idea of what to expect from the webpage. It makes reading easier for those who usually want to avoid long posts.
The process of web designing is fun. It has enough room to show your innovation and creativity. But keep these pro tips in mind to build websites that become instantly popular among viewers.