What goes into a good web design? The 2022 guide to website design
Why is web design important for your brand?
In the modern business world, a well-designed website is essential for attracting and keeping customers. By ensuring that your site is user-friendly and easy to navigate, you can keep potential customers from bouncing off your page and increase your conversion rates.
Your website should be designed with your target audience in mind. Consider what kind of information they are looking for and make sure it is easy for them to find. Use clear and concise text, and include calls to action on every page.
In addition to being user-friendly, your website should also be a sophisticated design. Use high-quality images and videos, and make sure your branding is consistent throughout the site. Pay attention to the small details, as they can make a big difference in the overall design of your site.
Here are three reasons why website design is so important for businesses:
- First, potential customers will judge your business on the appearance of your website. If your site looks old or unprofessional, they may take their business elsewhere.
- Second, your website needs to be easy to use and navigate. If potential customers can’t find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, they’ll become frustrated and again, take their business elsewhere.
- Finally, your website should be designed with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. This will ensure that your site comes up high in search results when potential customers are looking for businesses like yours.
Investing in a professional website design is crucial for any business that wants to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace.
Choosing a web page builder
When choosing a web design tool, it’s important to consider the overall look and feel of the website you’re building. A website builder with a wide variety of templates can give you the ability to create a responsive website design that looks great on all devices. If you’re new to web design, using a tool that offers step-by-step guidance can be helpful in creating a professional-looking website.
When it comes to building a website, many people opt for a proprietary WYSIWYG editor that doesn’t require HTML and CSS such as Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, or Shopify. While these platforms may be easy to use, they often lack in versatility. This is not to say that you can’t build a great website with one of these platforms. However, if you’re looking for more control over the design and development process, you may want to consider using a more traditional web development platform like WordPress.
WordPress is one of the most popular web design platforms available today. It’s a great solution for anyone looking to build a website, thanks to its wide range of features and tools. Whether you’re looking for a simple blog layout or something more complex, you’re sure to find what you need. And if you’re looking for even more control over your website’s design, there are plenty of great plugins and themes available. Elementor and Divi are two of the most popular options, offering powerful customization options to help you create a truly unique site.
We at Cole Don Media recommend WordPress
WordPress is the most robust content management system available today. With its easy to use navigation and responsive design, WordPress makes creating and managing a website easy for even the most novice of users.
WordPress offers a wide variety of features and plugins that allow users to create a truly unique and custom website. Whether you are looking for a simple blog or a complex eCommerce site, WordPress has the tools you need to create the perfect site for your needs by using page builders, SEO plugins, or booking systems.
Page builder plugins are intuitive and easy to use, even for people who have no experience with effective web design elements. With a WordPress page builder, all you need to do is drag and drop text and images into place. There’s no need to mess around with CSS, HTML, Javascript, Ruby, or other web coding languages to create content of a website. And best of all, most WordPress page builders are free.
Where to buy a domain name
A domain name is your identity on the internet; it’s how customers find your website and connects all of your web content (ie; https://coledonmedia.com). When you buy a domain name, you have the rights to use that specific name for a certain period of time, usually one year. You can also buy multiple years in advance, which secures your domain name for the long term.
Your domain name must be unique, but it can be tricky to come up with something that isn’t already taken. You can check the availability of a domain name using a WHOIS search. Once you’ve found an available domain name, you can register it through a registrar like Namecheap, Google Domains, GoDaddy, or through your web host of choice.
When you register a domain name, you’ll also need to set up nameservers. These are basically like telephone operators; they route traffic from your domain name to your web hosting account so people can see your website. Once you’ve registered your domain name and set up nameservers, your site should be live within 24-48 hours. If you receive a free domain as part of your hosting package, you can most likely skip this step. Most hosts provide free 1 year domain registrations upon signup.
Finding some web design inspiration
When you’re feeling stuck in your creative web design process, it can be helpful to take a step back and look for inspiration for layout design. There are many places you can find web design elements for your website like competitor websites, Google Images, Pinterest, Dribbble, Behance, and Awwwards. These sites showcase popular designs from the top web experts from around the world and are a great place to find interface designs for your own projects. Sometimes the best web designs may come from simply taking a parts of websites from other sources and putting your own spin on it. By taking the time to browse through some of these options, you can jump start your creativity and come up with a design that’s both unique and effective.
In addition to other websites, another great source of inspiration for web designers is graphic design. Many of the same principles that apply to web design also apply to graphic design, so it can be helpful to look at examples of good graphic design when you’re trying to come up with ideas for your website.
Ultimately, no matter where you look for inspiration, the important thing is to always be on the lookout for new and interesting ideas that you can use in your own work. By keeping your eyes open and being willing to try new things, you’ll be sure to create amazing designs that will impress your clients and help you stand out from the competition.
Visual elements of web design
There are many visual elements to consider when designing the user interface of your webpages, including font, color, overall look and feel, and user experience. Navigation is also an important element of web design, as it should be easy for users to find their way around your site. A professional web designer will take all of these factors into consideration to design websites that balance both visual aesthetics and usability.
Images
Most people have a general idea of what they want their website to look like. However, when it comes time to actually create a website, they may not be sure how to go about it. One thing that can help is to use high quality images.
Images can help break up text and provide a good layout for your web pages. They can also help convey the message you are trying to get across with your website. When choosing images, it is important to make sure they are high quality and relevant to the content of your website.
If you are not sure where to find high quality images, there are many online sources that can provide them. Some of the most popular options are:
- Unsplash
- Pexels
- Freepik
- Pixabay
- Adobe Stock (Paid Only)
- iStock (Paid Only)
- Getty Images (Paid Only)
- Depositphotos (Paid Only)
- 123RF (Paid Only)
- Dreamstime (Paid Only)
Icons
If you’re looking to add some visual designs to your website, finding the right icons is key. Products and services that are well-represented with visuals can be more engaging for website visitors. Keep your target audience in mind when selecting icons, and choose ones that fit the overall tone and content of your site. With a little bit of research, you can find icons that are both visually appealing and relevant to your business.
Some sites that have a good selection of icons for your UI design:
Fonts
When it comes to designing a website, one of the most important design features to consider is the font. The typography you choose will play a big role in creating a consistent brand aesthetic for your website. You can upload your own web fonts to your host or use Adobe Fonts or Google Fonts as a resource.
There are a few things you should keep in mind when choosing the right font for your website.
First, consider the overall tone you want to convey with your website. Do you want it to be serious and professional? Or fun and friendly? The tone of your website will help you narrow down the type of font you should use.
Next, take into account the legibility. You want visitors to your website to be able to easily read the text, so avoid using fancy or decorative styles that may be difficult to read.
Finally, make sure the font you choose is compatible with all major browsers.
If you chose to upload your own files to your server you’ll have to add some code. To implement your typography on your website and make it replace the default type use this code:
@font-face {
font-family: 'FAMILY_NAME';
font-style: NORMAL_OR_ITALIC;
font-weight: NUMERIC_WEIGHT_VALUE;
src: url(FONT_FILE_NAME.woff2) format('woff2');
}
Or you can call Google fonts directly like this:
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Quicksand&display=swap');
Now you just assign it to their respective headers or paragraph text!
Making your website mobile ready
No matter what type of business you have, chances are your customers are using their mobile devices to visit your website. That’s why it’s important to have a responsive web design that can help ensure your website looks great and functions well on any device. Web design is becoming more complicated with the various sizes of mobile screens and a poor web design can result in a loss of potential customers and revenue. This is why you need to utilize media queries in your CSS.
A media query is a technique introduced in CSS3. It uses the @media rule to include a block of properties only if a certain condition is true. For example, a media query can be used to apply different styles to a document for different screen sizes.
Media queries are an important part of responsive design, which is a technique for creating websites that look good on all devices, from small screens to large screens. By using media queries, designers can create designs that are flexible and adapt to different screen sizes.
Media queries are easy to use and can be added to any existing CSS file. All you need to do is add the @media rule with the desired condition inside the curly braces.
Most common device breakpoints are:
/* Extra small devices (phones, 600px and down) */
@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {...}
/* Small devices (portrait tablets and large phones, 600px and up) */
@media only screen and (min-width: 600px) {...}
/* Medium devices (landscape tablets, 768px and up) */
@media only screen and (min-width: 768px) {...}
/* Large devices (laptops/desktops, 992px and up) */
@media only screen and (min-width: 992px) {...}
/* Extra large devices (large laptops and desktops, 1200px and up) */
@media only screen and (min-width: 1200px) {...}
Don’t forget about your SEO!
As you develop your website, don’t forget about your SEO! A strong web presence is essential for any business in today’s digital age, and SEO is a key part of that. Make sure to do your research and choose keywords wisely so that your site can rank high in search engine results pages. With a little effort, you can ensure that you have everything you need and potential customers will be able to find you easily online.
Why invest in a professional web design agency?
When it comes to types of web design, you have many options to choose from. A great web design agency can help you create a website that is both visually appealing and matches your brand tone. Here are some reasons why investing in some web design services is a good idea:
Having a well-designed website is important for businesses of all sizes. A agency employs website designers that have the experience and expertise to create the best design strategy for your website that meets your specific brand’s needs. They will also be able to help you select the right platform and hosting for your website.
A web design agency can also help you improve your search engine optimization (SEO). They will know how to use keywords and other techniques to ensure that your website appears as high as possible in search results. This can help you attract more visitors to your website and generate more leads.
Ready to hire a web design agency? Schedule a free consultation with us today!
