The Downfall of Good Design:
A great design can enhance the user experience
A good website with quality design lets the viewer fully immerse in what the website describes. There are many detailed and well-designed websites, but there are those that need to be improved. Out of all the websites on the internet, the average time a user stays on a website is only 53 seconds. This means you have less than a minute to influence the viewer to remain on your website. To entice users to continue to read, be interested in what they are viewing, and share what they have learned with others by creating a well-designed website. It should drive the viewer to figuratively or buy what information, service, or product you are selling. Utilizing good design within your website is vital for your small business or company's brand.
What is Design?
A few will come up if you Google the dictionary definition of design. The first definition states that design is
“a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is built or made.”
The second definition reads that design is
“an arrangement of lines or shapes created to form a pattern or decoration.”
Both definitions share the common trait of describing an outline or pattern for bringing your thoughts to life. Creating a website involves planning what you want the website to look like on screen. Proper website design is vital in giving your company or small business an online brand for users to view.
The Basis of Design
While there is no set design structure that you must follow while outlining your website, there are some ways that you can enhance the structure visually for your viewers. Based on what you want your online brand to be, things can change stylistically for the layout of your website. Color schemes, images, videos, and what goes where can all get overwhelming. While outlining what you want to sell to your audience, you should think about what you want your brand to 'look like' or 'feel like.' When digging into the design details, a good base question is, why would someone want to buy what I'm selling? Building off what you offer to the viewers will determine how you stylize the website. This will aid in getting through to your audience and communicating your company goals.
What is "Good/Bad Design"
Not everyone will appreciate the website's design choices since design is relative; some may love it while others may not. Some artistic ways allow your brand to attract viewers, such as aesthetics and keeping it simple. Analyzing the color wheel would be the starting point when deciding what colors match your company's brand. A clean color scheme would be the key to success. An online color scheme generator helps visualize what the colors look like together. Keeping consistent style elements throughout your website is vital for a professional look. Keeping consistent and eye-catching styles throughout the website will enhance the site's aesthetic.
What Makes a Website Good?
A balance of text, images, and white space allows for breathing room for the viewer. This also will go hand in hand with staying away from the lack of design and having an overwhelming amount of design. Having these quality elements throughout the site will secure the viewer's attention. Keeping a good flow of content within the website aids viewers' interest. Enabling the website to be interactive in one way or another allows the user to have a personal experience with your company. Great websites base their content on user engagement plus the balance of search engine optimization and user interface. This is the root of product visibility and a brand with good traffic.
Website Influence
Not only should your website be visually pleasing, but it should also be able to influence the viewer to stay on the site for longer. Being able to entice your users to "buy what you're selling" is a huge reason for having a website in the first place. Having the essential elements of the website front and center to capture the viewer's attention is vital. This, paired with the design aspects of the website, enables the site to be appealing and easy to use. The website should be engaging and relevant. A fast-loading site and high-quality images can aid the overall website appeal. Understanding how psychology can influence the audience is essential in making and designing your website.
Uniformity
There is a fine line between a website with little personality and a clean look. The sites with no personality may have some things that could be improved within the design planning stage. There may have been intent to have a clean look, but it lacks the needed stylization. The website must be for the users' pleasure and to entice them to keep viewing your content. A clean look doesn't mean minimal color; it means having the color in the right places. Visual aspects of rounded edges and modern images enhance the site's overall look. Having your website's design be aesthetically pleasing will gain more user flow. If there are multiple pages within the site, keep the style consistent within each of them.
Unwanted Content
No one wants to be bombarded with ads in the middle of their scrolling. There is a time and place for them to be shown. Along with unwanted ads and blurred content that the user can only see if signing up with their email is the worst publicity for your website. Too many popups when scrolling can be too distracting for the viewer. A website with no pictures or interactive components will feel like looking at a wall of text. These could easily scare away any potential viewers. A tip to avoid overloading the website with big words would be to act as if you are explaining something to a child. Also, be aware of how a website is being navigated. Make it as easy for the viewer to get the overall idea and want to dive deeper.
Originality
Most websites stream into the minimalist look, where they all look incredibly similar. There will be formatting similarities, but it should be a copy-and-paste of only part of the layout. Keeping the design original is critical to making your company's website stand out. A unique but professional website allows your users to admire your design skills. You don't want your website to blend in with all the others on the internet; the users will appreciate the style difference. Using what your brand represents and displaying that within the website will help viewers connect with the company.
Multi-Platform Design
It should be no surprise that websites should be designed to work on mobile. Having a beautiful website across a laptop should be the starting point. However, allowing the site to be loaded correctly on a smaller screen, such as a phone, and an even wider screen, like a TV, is vital. If the functionality and design are recovered when users look up your site on their phone, it will protect your company's brand. This will negatively impact your target audience and make the experience with your website unusable for the viewer. A responsive layout allows the website to adapt to its screen size while maintaining its functionality. The site can be adaptable to any screen size and can be reached from any platform. For example, it keeps the site consistent on iOS and Android.
What it takes to design a Website
When creating products, like a website, the need for them to be functional is vital; in doing so, there will be a need for some coding background. Some programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript would be necessary to create the site. Having an eye for detail and being able to solve problems along the way will aid in the website's usability. At the core, it is necessary to have the website programmed with smooth navigation and performance throughout and maintain the aesthetics. Having cohesive content within the website will benefit both the developer and the viewer. User research will be the starting point of the digital product. Keeping the site current is essential for the company brand and relevant search engine optimization.
Teamwork
Though web development and design sound the same, they take on different roles. You can have a team of designers and developers when building the website. Web developers take a more functional approach, creating the site's code and maintaining the viewers' usability. On the other hand, design centers around visual appeal and making the overall experience easy for the user to understand. Being able to take what the company needs and bring it to life is their shared role—bouncing off each other's strengths to keep the overall website experience user-friendly at the forefront of the project.
AI-Generated Website Design
Using AI to build your website would only take minutes, could be free, and you would need zero coding skills. An AI website generator would be the easiest route. Though you wouldn't have to do much bulk work to create the website, you would still design it. There are pre-designed templates within website generators; if you aren't concerned with your website looking like everyone else's, this would be the way to go. There are both pros and cons of using AI to build your website. Some pros are that it would be easier to manage and tailored to your needs without the work. Some cons are that it would not be original work and could have some inconsistencies within the content. It is a personal choice to go the AI route or not.
Final Thoughts — Overall Goal
Sometimes, the overall goal the company tries to achieve is overtaken by the design aspects, and it needs to be noticed within the website. Try to maintain the uniformity of the brand throughout the entire site. Speaking directly to your audience places them in a space to have an experience with the company. Keep the word count reasonably low to not overwhelm them while still ensuring that the message is communicated correctly, which will be essential for understanding—making sure that the website is visually eye-pleasing, as well as keeping the content about the company's goals at the center of it.
