Innovative Web Designs

Web design is a tricky process to complete, but that doesn’t mean you cannot design your own website. Before you get started, make sure you know some of the most common web design mistakes and how to avoid them.

Although you want the website to look good, you still need to make sure that it is accessible. Avoid using too many design elements – especially large pictures and heavy animations. The website you are designing needs to be light enough for every user to loan in a couple of seconds.

Adding too many advertisements to the layout will also scare your users away. Trying to increase your advertising revenue is not a bad goal, but adding too many ads is certainly not the way to reach it. Instead of placing ads all over the pages, integrate simple text ads into your content for improve effectiveness.

Make sure your website appears perfectly when opened using different browsers. Designing a website to work with only one browser will only reduce the number of visitors you can reach in general. You can also make the website to be smartphone-friendly so that viewers can access the contents you are providing even when they are on the go.

Just like other forms of design, there are certain norms and principles that you need to follow in order to design an effective website. In this part of our series about web design principles, we are going to talk about the most basic principle to keep in mind: balance.

A website is usually designed to be attractive, but it still needs to provide useful contents or functionalities in order to attract more visitors and arouse return visits. This is why you need to properly balance between design elements and contents if you want your website to be effective.

It is also necessary to balance between design and performance. A lot of new web designers make the mistake of adding several Flash animations and large pictures only to find that visitors are not returning because the site will not load.

Another important balance to keep when designing a website is the balance between design elements and the layout. A website needs to be consistent, so it is necessary that you set a standard layout for the entire site; for example, moving the navigation bar to different places on different pages will only confuse your users.

When the balance is kept properly, your website will be both aesthetically satisfying and functional at the same time.

The best, easiest way to have a website designed properly is to work with an experienced web designer every step of the way. Choosing a good web designer to hire is relatively easy to do, especially when you know the necessary questions to ask during the interview.

Start by asking for a web design portfolio and make sure you take your time to review the portfolio properly. When you look closely into a web designer’s portfolio, you will be able to establish a distinct design style and qualities. Continue only when you are happy with what you see.

Discuss the web design concept you are interested in applying and see if the web designer you are interviewing can give you a confident answer on how to implement the concept. You don’t need to get a detailed answer at this stage – and a professional web designer will not give you one – but a general overview should be more than enough to assess the capability of the person or team you are interviewing.

Ask for past references and find out more about how the web designer performed by contacting the references directly. You can also get a clearer picture of how working with the web designer will be this way.