by Awesome Author | Oct 28, 2021 | Web Design
The world of designs is a vast one if you are naive or a beginner. You won’t just be confused with several things in the basket, but also unrelated when you have no idea how to move ahead. And, when it comes to website design performed by a designer, they can often face blocks while designing specific models and graphics.
If you fall under such a category, this article is for you. Keep reading to know more about how to get started with web designs and improve on what you’re looking for.
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1. Use Pinterest Mood Boards
Pinterest is one of the significant tools to develop mood boards. For this, collect visual material that you reckon would be advantageous in your quest to incorporate into your project for some directions and inspirations. These can be color schemes, images, existing websites, layouts, and many more. Besides, such a mood board can act as a central hub for all your website design inspiration.
In addition, you can also share them with collaborators and clients to contribute to their material.
2. Create a Step-by-Step System
What they say: failing to plan a system is planning to fail. This also implies that it is very much true with web designing. If you fail to capitalize on the website design, it might be because you have not dealt with the essentials and fundamentals yet. Only when all the basics are in place will one be able to put creative touches. If you want to know more, here is what planning may look like.
- Define the goal of your website – You must know what the website is supposed to achieve. And, if you do not, what is it suitable for? Reasonable objectives tend to be SMART, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely, to be more specific.
- Sketch a buyer’s journey – Irrespective of the overall objective; you must know the route of your visitor. From when they ponder on your website to whatever goal you have in mind. This is one of the ways to develop a popper structure to guide the visitors along the entire way.
- Produce your style guide — Producing one specific style guide can help you stay updated and consistent with your designs. It tends to define colors, fonts, and other designing elements. Utilizing one can promote uniformity, primarily when you are working with others. Google is one good example of this.
- Plan your SEO — Towards the end, you need to plan out search engine optimization. Create a map for your website to acknowledge how to structure the much-needed insight for search engines and visitors.
3. Focus on the Structure
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Just like forming a strategy, focusing on the site’s structure can initially help you step away from the entire process and get a bird’s eye view. Furthermore, this can help you in various other things. For instance, by producing sketches on paper with one pen, you may forget about details like colors and corners for a moment. However, if you are utilizing a whiteboard or a flipchart, consider making the entire thing collaborative.
Even though you are hell-bent on utilizing your computer to design, you can simply use one of the squint tests. This simply implies that moving away from your screen and then squinting your eyes simultaneously. Besides, the entire blurred image will show what is obvious on your website and what the first visit or users will notice on the screen.
4. Stick With Web Standards
You cannot blame the designers for such a task. Every creative individual wants to explore their creative ends to mark a difference. That is a good thing. However, remember that it is necessary to mark some boundaries within which one can be a little creative. For instance, when it comes to web design, there are several established standards. Users and visitors are habitual of specific website elements and tropes. So, when you break such rules, it may put them off and eventually enable them to exit the site.
Among these established standards:
- Consistency in design and branding across every page
- The top left website logo
- Contact info mentioned in the top center or right
- Primary navigation throughout the screen’s top
- Main value/headline proposition and CTA on the homepage
- Header’s search feature
- Social media icons
5. Focus on CTA Buttons & Minimalism
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When you realize the actions and goals of your pages and website, you can eliminate everything that does not serve the purpose. This can streamline the design and make it more pleasant to everyone. But, yet again, there is a lot of research to back this up. In one of the studies, Google found out that it gets negatively correlated with the site’s appeal and attraction points when it comes to visual complexities. In short, people do not wish to get overwhelmed with such changes.
Featured Image Credits: TNZ Web Solutions
by Awesome Author | Sep 15, 2021 | Web Design
Web design is an amazing blend of art and science. In fact, for many professionals, a website’s design is the first factor for them to judge any website’s credibility! It is an intimidating process and may take a lot of time to master. A web designer is someone who employs a mix of creativity and technical expertise to help create a website, and the subject may look overwhelming at first, but trust us, it isn’t the case.
Many may not understand how crucial it is, but web design influences almost every other factor of your websites, such as UI/UX, bounce rate, loading speeds, page load times, and many more. No matter whatever the business may be, web design is what will make your website usable and likable.
So without further ado, let’s dive in and check out some of the cool tricks and tips that will go a long way in sprucing up your web design career.
Have a plan
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Since you’ve acknowledged that your website needs some design improvement, it is time to get your hands dirty. In addition, this might be the perfect moment to design a plan for the website. Here, all one has to do is map out what needs to be there on the website. For instance, every site has a customer journey that requires improvement and enhancement. So, one needs to focus on that.
Focus on your potential to become a customer. This customer journey will allow you to focus on the pages that need to be converted for client perspective. Understanding such a situation may help design a website that helps nurture and improve leads through several sales funnels.
Reduce friction and remove distractions
Some aspects of a website tend to detract and derail a customer from the message and value your website is trying to convey or demonstrate. Things like long content, complicated animations, and stocky images are a few examples. Remember, an audience only has the attention of eight seconds. Hence, make it all clear what a user can learn from the viewing page. And, while they adhere to such an activity, ensure that they do not get distracted.
Add social proof
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Social proof is all about how much you emphasize the reviews on sites like Amazon. It’s human psychology to check reviews of a specific product before purchasing. We often check the stars a product has received and then kick our decisions in its favor. By adhering to such activity, we trust a product by believing that it promises to deliver.
Consider applying the same effect to your product. Think about how you can deliver these products or services to potential customers or existing clients without hassle. One of the studies also demonstrates that prospects are likely to buy products with positive testimonials.
Implement calls-to-action
Once you already have visitors on the website through your blog or homepage, it is time to guide them to specific pages that may convert them or nurture their interests. Do not forget; people are passive when it comes to going around a particular website. One needs to point people in the correct direction, disallowing them to struggle.
So, when you get the website designed, place effective and strategic CTAs. It does not have to follow a set parameter. Just decide on places where these buttons can be developed.
Use proper stock images.
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Some people struggle with images placed on the website. Suppose you have a blog that focuses on travel journeys or journals. What would you want your viewers or readers to check on the website? Content and images, right? Well, what if the pictures are misleading? This can be a sudden turn-off since people look to visualize travel activities and journeys. So, whenever you go with a visual-centric design, pick the correct stock photo or upload yours for a personalized experience. Website users will subconsciously negate and drift away, adding to the exit analytics of the website.
Conclusion
So these were a few tips and tricks that you can employ to be a better and cooler web designer. Whether it is the format or aesthetics, or testing or screen ratios, always remember that your work will only come out at its best if you test and review it. Eventually, you will get better and learn to implement your ideas on projects. Speaking of which, there are various levels in design, and hence, one fantastic tip is that it is always best to take the step-by-step learning approach for clarity and developing your skillset.
It is one thing to read and try such tips and tricks, but it is another to adapt to the project needs and improvise changes on the spot. And such adaptability is what makes a good web designer, and the fact that they understand principles and are open to experimenting for great results.
Featured Image Credits: Pixabay
