Everything you need to know about web design.
If you want to stand out online, you need a website, and if you want to get the most out of that website, you need good web design. It’s that simple. Web design is all about visuals and user experience (UX). One of the most important things web designers do is create wireframes that detail the layout and navigation through pages. Designers also think about how users will interact with content—all to deliver positive experiences that lead visitors to become customers or clients. Key considerations include everything from colours, typefaces, imagery and other graphics to accessibility features for people with disabilities and responsive design features for mobile device users who are looking at smaller screens than desktop computer users. While there are some universal principles of good web design, each project is unique because it must reflect its own brand’s aesthetic—and provide great UX for its target audience(s). So let’s dive into the world of web design: what it means today and how it can help your business succeed!
Web design is all about visuals.
The visual interface is the first thing that users see when they visit your website. It’s also the first thing they interact with and the first impression they form.
A good visual interface can make the difference between a positive and negative user experience, which in turn will affect how many people come back to your site again and again! Adobe XD is a good start to building how you want your site to look before you build it.
Mobile-first does not mean mobile-online.
When you hear “mobile-first,” it can be easy to assume that the designer meant “mobile-only.” But that’s not true! Mobile-first design means designing for the smallest screen first, then expanding to large screens as needed. In other words: start with your small phone and think about how you might make it work on tablets and desktops—not just redesigning from scratch because you’re working on a huge monitor.
User experience and user interface are different but work together.
User experience (UX) is the way that a user feels when using a product. User interface (UI) is how a user interacts with the product. Think about what makes you feel good about an app or website: maybe it’s how easy it is to navigate or maybe it’s how engaging it feels, but there are probably one or two things that make the entire experience memorable and fun! These are all elements of UX, while UI details include things like buttons and menus within an app or website.
While UX and UI can seem very different, they work together to create an overall experience that users enjoy coming back to over and over again—which means more money in your pocket!
Emotional Design Matters
Emotional design matters. Ask yourself: What exactly is emotional design? According to TheDesignMBA.com, it’s “the study of how people feel when they use a product or service”. If you want to make your website stand out from the crowd, you need to understand the mindset of your target audience and how you can use visual elements such as colour and typography to appeal specifically to them.
The first step in creating an emotionally engaging design is understanding the goals, values and personalities of your target customers. This will help inform what elements should be included on each page of your site—from photos to text blocks—so that visitors find what they’re looking for immediately.
Colour and type-face matter.
It’s important to consider the psychology of colour and typeface as you plan your website. Colour can help convey a message, create a mood, or help people remember or feel a certain way about your site. A typeface can influence how readers feel about the content they’re reading—it may seem obvious that you’d want them to like it! The best way to learn about how these elements work together is by testing them out for yourself on paper or in mock-ups in Photoshop.
A great website for picking out amazing colour schemes is ColourSpace. Just add one colour to the generator and it will show you a large list of palettes to draw inspiration from.
Minimalism is the new web design trend.
In the web design community, minimalism is a design philosophy that focuses on reducing the visual clutter of a website. Minimalist designs are typically clean, crisp, and simple—they feature fewer colours and elements than traditional designs do and often rely on white space to separate content from one another.
Minimalism as a style has become increasingly popular over the last few years due to its ability to convey messages with clarity while still being aesthetically pleasing. This trend has also been popularized by Apple’s use of minimalist design in their iOS software: everything looks simple yet functional at the same time!
Chatbots are growing in popularity because they improve UX and reduce customer service costs.
In a nutshell, chatbots are automated customer service agents that use artificial intelligence to respond to questions from website visitors. They’re also used for lead generation and retention—however, I’ll focus on their primary purpose: improving user experience (UX).
It’s no secret that customers prefer to interact with businesses through messaging apps instead of calling or visiting brick-and-mortar stores. 91% of online shoppers said they were more likely to purchase from brands that offered chat support than those that didn’t. But how do you know if your website is ready for this change? There are plenty of free chatbots or chats that offer free trials, so its a great way to tes whether this is something you should be implementing on your website.
Designers are exploring the latest technology to improve UX, like artificial intelligence (AI).
This tool can be used to automate repetitive tasks, such as designing a website. It can also be used to create a chatbot that interacts with users on your website. A well-designed chatbot helps you answer questions and provide information in the most efficient way possible, which improves the user experience.
As we’ve seen, web design has made huge strides in the past couple of decades, with new technologies giving designers an incredible amount of freedom to explore how they can use visual elements to create engaging and compelling user experiences. There are plenty of possibilities for where it could go next, with many designers already exploring artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” As a web designer, you will have a lot of opportunities to develop innovative designs that make an impact on your users—and if you’re lucky enough to be passionate about it all.
If you would like to discuss your website needs with our team, get in touch today. Or if you fancy having a stab at web design yourself, get started the right way by reading our web trend article.