7 Principles of Effective Web Design
A well-designed website will provide a great experience for users visiting your site. This has many benefits including better user engagement which helps with improved search engine rankings.
Here we will explore the 7 Principles of Effective Web Design that will make your website appealing, user-friendly, and effective.
1. The Purpose of the Website
A good web design aims to deliver a benefit to the user, whether it is an informative website, entertainment website, or some form of an interactive website. Every page on a website must deliver a clear message, and have a specific purpose. If you address the need of your users, then they will visit your web design again and again.
2. The Way of Communication
People on the internet want fast access to information. It is important that all your information is communicated clearly, quickly, and in an organised manner. Try using short sentences and use headlines and paragraph to redundant information in long sentences.
3. Typefaces to Use
The common fonts that are easier to read are the Arial and Verdana fonts. The Sans Serif fonts are more contemporary and do not have decorative finishes. For online reading, the target fonts are 16x, with 3 typefaces and 3 point sizes at the maximum to keep your design visually appealing.
4. Application of Colours
Colours are very important as they are the working features of web design. If you use the colours patter properly you will get more users to your website. Try using complementary colours balance that blends with the text and background. You should also try using white space and negative space as it is a good technique to give you a website an organised look and an uncluttered feel.
5. Using the Images
Images are a big part of web design and you need to choose the right images to build a proper brand positioning for your product and service. You may even buy images from stock photos to enhance the look of your website. You may also want to use info-graphics videos and graphical illustration as they are a good way of communicating with your users and to get a better response than through standard written text.
6. The Functionality of Navigation
Navigation is the way the user will move on the website. If the navigation is simple and easy a user is more likely to stick to a website. Try to use good navigation strategies such as a logical page structure using bread crumbs, implementing fence, and following the three clicks strategy, meaning that the user will find what he or she is looking for in three clicks.
7. The Grid-based Pattern
Using random patterns will make your web page complex and it will look cluttered with information. The Grid-based Pattern is about implementing the layout for the website in columns and boxes so that the website feels organised and visually appealing.
Following these principles, you will have a professional web design that will attract and retain traffic.