What Are the Basic Principles of Web Design?

Web design is an art, which is why sites look different from each other. However, it’s also a science. That’s why the most successful ones share qualities based on universal truths all self-respecting designers understand.

What Are the Basic Principles of Web Design?

The basic principles of web design are clear purpose, lucid content, painless navigability, fast loading time, unfailing screen responsiveness, and test-based layout. Learn more about these six fundamentals.

1. Site Purpose Must Be Clear

All websites want to drive traffic, generate leads, and make money by selling something directly or indirectly. Despite these common objectives, those with good design leave no room for ambiguity in their being. Their pages — whether they describe a product or a service, educate about a particular subject, or entertain through interesting stories — set the expectations of readers.

Sites with bad design, on the other hand, have an identity crisis. They can have incoherent visual elements, inconsistent messaging, and missing or inappropriate calls to action. 

2. Content Must Be Lucid

Wise site owners know that internet users want the path of least resistance to get the information they need. That’s why they publish copy whose readability matches the expertise level of its intended audience.

Understanding that most of their visitors initially scan what they look for, site owners favor content pieces broken by headers with bold words and phrases instead of large chunks of plain text. They embrace white space and accent colors to assist readability.

3. Everything Must Be Navigable

Properly designed sites ensure all information is discoverable and findable easily. They have well-thought-out sections categorizing relevant pages and masterful interlinking tying complementary content pieces together.

Moreover, the best websites act as little Googles. If you plan to maintain a business blog and a knowledge base for tutorials, frequently asked questions, etc., your site must have a robust search feature that can return logical results for queries.

4. Pages Must Load Fast

Good web design emphasizes speedy loading times. The web has abundant information, so internet users are rightfully impatient. They’ll give your site a chance as long as it takes less than two seconds to load and be accessible.

Fast loading speed can positively impact your site’s reputation, too. It indicates that you maintain your site and value user experience.

5. Design Must Be Responsive

Speaking of user experience, good web design is synonymous with mobile responsiveness. If you want to increase your site’s stickiness and send your message across, make sure its pages can adapt to any screen and browser window size.

6. Layout Must Be Data-Based

Falling in love with your page layouts even if they’re unpopular among your visitors is bad practice. Web design is about them, not you, so test the effectiveness of your pages early and often and polish them along the way until you craft their best versions.

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SDev Technologies takes pride in bringing countless stunning websites to life. Get in touch with us today to talk about your vision for your site, learn about our past projects, and get a quote!