What makes great web design?

You know when you see a well designed web site, I’m sure, as it just looks so good, so much better than your site. The designers were really on top of their game, had studied graphic design and result is a website that is a work of art; if you want to improve the design of your website you’re going to have to hire a designer of the same calibre, or give up what you’re doing to go to art school.

STOP!

Photo by Morgaine

Great website design has little to do with how it looks

A truly well designed website will guide the visitor to taking the action you want them to take, nothing more and nothing less.

Before thinking of how it should look you need to decide what the objective of the site is, and then, the objective of each individual page on the site. That objective might be to buy something; to sign up to your list; to start a conversation and encourage the visitor to leave a comment; to engage the reader with a well thought out blog post; or something else entirely.

So don’t judge a web design about how it looks; it is entirely down to how well that website helps achieve your objectives on an individual page level. The design can obviously help you achieve your goals, but it can also get in the way.

And when a web designer starts telling you that you can’t do something on the page because it unbalances the page, that’s when you need to put your foot down, because some elements definitely need to stand out and break that balance that makes them pretty much invisible to your site’s visitors.

Think your phone number or contact numbers should blend in? No, of course not. Make them stand out so that they deliberately catch the eye.

It may not be art. But how many artists make it in their own lifetime?

Categorised in: internet marketing

This post was written by David