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What Makes a Web Site’s Design Look Good? 7 Ideas for You to Think About

Filling the World Wide Web is web sites with gradients, patterns, animation and more. Lots of them look great!
And then there’s simple web sites that also look great!
We have web sites of all kinds and they all look fantastic.
But, then again, there are other web sites that employ the same principles that look horrible!
Why?

Therefore I have a simple question for you.

What makes a web site’s design look good?

I think this question haunts all web designers who are truly concerned about their work - I know it does me.

So what makes them look good and others with similar principals look bad?

Well, here are seven bits and pieces I’ve noticed that generally work - note: they don’t always work and aren’t always needed.

1: Easy Navigation

Being able to easily navigate a web site is the most important part about a site, if your visitors can’t get around, they won’t stick around.
Example: Toggle - easy, concise, and prominent navigation

2: Images

Some sort of high-quality and related photo adds greatly. While photos can help, they’re not for all web sites.
Element Fusion - Web Site Development - a single photo drawing attention to the site’s message.

3: Graphics

A logo of some kind is necessary for virtually all web sites. Supplementary graphics are helpful as well.
Elixir Graphics is pretty good on both points.

4: Color

Three or more colors working together gives the web site a professional and thought out look. Personally I like web sites with two main colors, a main accent, and one or two subtle accents - if you follow me.
Design Snack is a pretty good example.

5: Engaging Content

Some may say ‘well duh’ to this one, but images, animation, and graphics used in the right setting it is a powerful tool. Keep in mind that such ’spices’ don’t always work for a web site.
Drew Wilson - A nice header and good images in the content. Granted, it’s a portfolio, but it’s still nice.

6: Minimalism

Stripping everything off a web site excepting the content is very effective - in most circumstances, but not all. If done right, minimalist web sites can be more effective than the most flash saturated web site out there.
Brandon Muth is a great example of minimalism and color.

7: Animation

Animation accents can be very powerful and very dangerous. If used effectively they will give your web site a professional flare - used incorrectly and they will slow down your site and frustrate your visitors (this is actually one of my biggest pet peevs) Make sure your animation is fast loading and doesn’t take forever to zip across the screen - your visitors are interested in your content more than your fancy animation.
Deadly Viper is a great example of using a little animation, but not too much.

I’ve listed just about all components of web design, haven’t I?

Design is a fickle thing.

Be careful with what elements you use in your design.
Design works in some circumstances and not others.

The problem designers have is choosing which components for which site.

In upcoming posts I plan on examining which should be used and when.
So stay tuned.

Img: Stages by Clearly Ambiguous