When it comes to designing websites there are no set rules to follow and each one usually ends up being different from the first, which is no bad thing. But there are a set of fundamental rules which should be adhered to if you want your new design to go down well with your clients. Here are my top three overlooked web design concepts.
White Space
White space is incredibly important in web design but is so often overlooked. White space done right, will help to balance out the overall look and feel of your website. Another term for white space, is ‘Negative space’. White space should help to make the content pop out of the page, without it dominating over the content too much.
Fonts
Fonts have always been a contentious issue in web design. Knowing when and where to use a particular font in web design can more often than not, make or break the fluidness of the website. I’ve found web designers in the past to be in love with San Serif, but personally I can’t stand it! Give me Helvetica any day of the week. This is just personal taste of course; but I have never had a client ask me to change the main copy font when using with it, so I’m sticking with it until they ask otherwise!
I do most of my web design in plymouth, but have clients all over the country and it hasn’t failed me yet!
Colour Theory
The correct use of colour is something that is quite hard to teach someone who is unfamiliar with it in just a few short sentences so I will try my best to give an overview.
The best colour schemes come from experimentation and practise. Of course it helps to know the theory of using a colour wheel too, which will give you an advantage in selecting the right colour scheme for the job.
One of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to try not to use too many high saturation colours in a single palette. It more often than not comes across as over bearing. Personally I tend to stick to a more pastel look and feel for my websites whenever I can get away with it.
My second tip would be to try and use ‘offblacks’ and ‘offwhites’ instead of sticking to absolute values. The reasons being is that sometime it comes across as overbearing and can distract your visitors from the main content.
These are my three most overlooked design tips if you have any more please feel free to share them in the comments section below.
Lee is Plymouth web designer with a fresh take on web design. Why not stalk him on Twitter @devondesigns