Designing a website can be frustrating when there are seemingly endless rules and trends to follow. By sticking to basic principles, you can create the website of your dreams without sacrificing usability or being stuck with a boring design.

Less Is More

In website design, you should seek a clean interface. Whitespace can seem bland, but the extra space makes you text easier to read and important graphics stand out. Consider consolidating the menus on your website so they are more streamlined. It may not be necessary to have several main menu options when you can create subcategories of information that can be accessed from a drop-down menu.

Be Mobile-Friendly

The more mobile-friendly your website is, the better for gaining traffic to your website and ensuring people who land on your website from mobile platforms stick around. How mobile-friendly your website is goes beyond the responsiveness. Many options look great on the computer, but can become annoying when scaled down to the average phone or tablet size.

Additionally, you must consider the average mobile device has less processing speed and memory than a computer. Your fancy graphics can be a headache on mobile platforms. If you must include graphics or other processor-heavy graphics, create a mobile version of your website that scales down these components when users are on a mobile device.

Stand Out

The problem with many websites is they look similar, since they are often built on the same content management system (CMS). Consider having your website built on a less popular CMS that offer more unique themes and options. If you choose to go with the popular CMSs, look for ways your website layout can attract visual interest.

For example, some websites have a homepage with different tiles to highlight various aspects of the website. Others may use a long-scroll, where their website is simply one long page. If you choose the long-scroll option, remember scrolling for some indefinite amount of time can be frustrating to your viewers. Your viewers should reach the end of the page within a few seconds of scrolling.

Use Color Carefully

Designing a website can be intimidating when you are afraid to use color. Most any color can be used in an appropriate way, without being overwhelming. Spend time playing with different color schemes. Start by choosing a color you like, then determine which colors work with your primary color in analogous, complementary and triad color schemes. Once you have several color schemes in mind, look for areas on your website that can use small pops of color. Headers, social media icons and links are just a few ways you can incorporate small doses of color while keeping your website professional.

Keeping your website interesting and mobile-friendly is the foundation of any successful website. By maintaining basic design principles, you can incorporate most any design element.

For professional website design, contact a company such as Scotti Design.