What Makes A Great Web Design?

Any brand, blog or business operating today will tell you how important it is to have a great web design. As of 2022, a company’s website often is a customer’s first impression of the business. As a company owner, you have only a few seconds to wow them as well as create a good relationship and trust with your audience. And if you aren’t going to have a great web design, your competitors most certainly are.

A good web design isn’t as simple as just having a good website. There is so much more involved. By definition, web design is just creating the feel and look of a website. However, a stunning web design will consider many other aesthetic topics such as graphic design, illustration, interactivity and the layout of each page.

When it comes to creating a beautiful website there is a lot to consider. Let’s take a look at the different features that make a great web design.

Content

It doesn’t matter what your website is for, we all know “content is king”. People go on the internet to be fed content. And with so much content already available, your website must have plenty to offer. Whether you decide to hire a copywriter, write the content yourself or use AI to craft content and blog posts, your copy must compliment your design.

Having a web design with plenty of good content means users will stay on your page for longer. A great web design will have plenty of short and easy-to-digest content pieces that complement the design such as videos, high-resolution images and relevant news articles.

Aesthetics

You don’t have to go full Aristotle to give your design a great aesthetic. It is crucial that not only is your web design easy to use but that it looks good too. A visually appealing website will add to your brand awareness and credibility.

One thing many people miss out on when designing their web page is maintaining a brand image. It is important to create an aesthetically pleasing website that fits a brand’s look and feel.

Regular Traffic

It is all well and good having a gorgeous-looking website but if you can’t be found on the internet then there wasn’t much point. As a business or brand, it is important that you understand how to be found on Google. If people are not aware of your product or service they definitely can’t buy them.

Making sure your web page has a name that is catchy and easy to remember helps hugely with visibility. Other things that might help are taking advantage of SEO, social media and even email marketing campaigns.

There are hundreds of factors that can affect where your site appears within search engines so make sure you do your homework and have a plan in place.

Usability

Many professional web designers insist usability is a quality that goes unnoticed by the end users. However, a website that is easy to use goes a long way in making a great design.

There are many elements that make a web design user-friendly. For example, it is easily navigable, clear, concise, accessible and mobile-friendly. That last point is so important in today’s market and is why many website designers recommend responsive website design. Simply put, responsive web design means users can access the website on a multitude of devices regardless of the changes in size and resolution.

A great website should almost anticipate a visitor’s actions and accommodate them in advance. The visitors should know where they are on the site at all times as well as be able to access specific parts of the page with ease. It’s all about giving the customer a smooth and easy experience.

Interaction

Interaction is what the internet is all about today. The aim of the game is to try and hold the audience’s attention and keep that attention for as long as possible. The layout should engage people, hold their attention and then direct them through the stages to finally make contact with you.

This element comes away from the aesthetics of the site and focuses on the main functionality of a website. At the end of the day, your site is there to generate leads, increase sales and grow your business. Engaging your website visitors is essential to great web design.

Paradox of Choice

This is an element of web design that web designers will debate for hours. How much is too much? The more options that are available the less likely someone is to make a choice. And even if they do make a choice, with the number of options available to them they end up feeling less satisfied they have made the right choice.

Less is more when it comes to designing a website. With that in mind, your website mustn’t offer too much. Limit your number of options. Perhaps only show the three best sellers on your homepage. Keep the menu simple and short, so users can better navigate through the site.

Prioritize what you want customers to know about. A little extra planning before launch means your web design shouldn’t feel too congested.

White Space

This ties into our last point as again less is more when it comes to great web design. White space is the blank or empty area on a website. Great website design understands this blank space is not a waste of space and many successful web designers use this logic in their designs.

Utilizing this white space to its fullest potential means dividing the page into different sections. Don’t cram everything into a tight space. Allow for some white space between sections. This includes photographs and text.  They add breathing space to the website and make it much more digestible for visitors.

Conclusion

These are 7 great elements that turn a good web design into a great one. Keeping it simple and adding your flair to the page can go a long way. There are plenty more elements to great web design. But as many great web designers will tell you, rules are meant to be broken.