What is website design?
Website design is the process of planning, conceptualising, and arranging content intended for the internet. Website design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. Modern website design goes beyond how things look (aesthetics) to include how things work (functionality)
What are Website design elements?
Visual Elements
Written Copy: The look of a website and its words go hand in hand. The two should never really be considered separate. Having your designers and content writers work hand in hand can enable more powerful designs.
Fonts: When designing a website, it’s imperative to choose easy to read font pairings that complement the design.
Colours: Colours are one of the most important elements to consider when designing a website. Keep in mind that there are lot of misconceptions about psychology of colour. When choosing colours for your site, it’s important to focus on aligning your colours with your brand and the message you are trying to convey.
Layout: How you decide to arrange your content will have a dramatic impact on both the appearance and the functionality of your site.
Shapes: The use of graphical elements in web design has really taken off over the past few years. Combining beautiful colours and shapes can be used to accomplish many things, such as directing the attention of your site visitors.
Spacing: There is a space that exists between every element within your design- the images, the paragraphs; the lines… even the letters have spacing. As a rule of thumb, having too much space is better than having them crammed together.
Images & Icons: Amazing designs can communicate a lot of information in just a few seconds. One of the ways to accomplish this is through the use of powerful images and icons. A quick Google search for stock images or icons will produce thousand of options. You can find free images and icons at Pexels, Unsplash, IconMonstr and paid, premium images at Shutterstock.
Videos: Videos are an increasing trend amongst web designers. When used properly, they can help your website visitors experience something that simply can’t be described with words or images.
Functional Elements
Navigation: Navigation is one of the main components that determine if your website actually works. Depending on the audience, your NAV can serve multiple purposes. It helps first time visitors discover what you have to offer while guiding returning visitors to specific sections within your site.
Speed: Slow websites are always unacceptable. Regardless of how nice your design is, if it doesn’t load within a reasonable time, it will not perform in search, and it will not accomplish your goals.
Animations: There are tons of web animation techniques that can help your design accomplish a wide range of task, from grabbing a user’s attention to giving feedback on certain interactions with content like buttons or forms.
User Interactions: Your website visitors have multiple ways of interacting with your website depending on their device. The best website designs simplify these interactions to give the user the sense that they are in control.
Site Structure: A website structure plays an important role in both user experience and search engine optimization. You should be able to easily navigate through your website without encountering any structural issues.
Cross browser & Cross device compatibility: A great design should look polished on all devices and browsers.
Types of Website design
Adaptive websites: Adaptive website design uses two or more versions of a website that are customised for specific screen sizes.
Adapts based on device type
Adapts based on browser width
Responsive websites: Responsive websites can use flexible grid layouts that are based on the percentage each element takes up in its container.
Website design tools
Desktop Apps:
Website builders: There are several website building options on the market today. Not all of them can be considered “web design tools” as editing limitations can make it very difficult to create something custom without having to rely on code.
Adaptive websites:
Responsive websites: Crating a fluid responsive website is hard. The editing experience uses grids and boxes that make building unique designs close to impossible without having to code extensively. Pros is ability to create custom responsive sites without having to write code unmatched control over every element on the page ability to export code to host elsewhere. Cons include complex tools with steep learning curves slower design process that adaptive website builders.
Web design inspiration
Some of the best spots where web designers go to get the creative juices are:
- Webdesign Inspiration
- Best Website Gallery
- Site Inspire
- Awwwards