Website design?

What does good design look like?

Website design is often overcomplicated. While it is tricky, that’s mostly because it can be subjective. Design principles always apply. You just need to determine what design aspects are most relevant for your business. So how do you do that?

Know your competitors

One of the best ways to get started is by evaluating your competitors. Ideally, you’ll find between 3 and 5 companies that are direct competitors or do something similar. Then work out what you like (and what you don’t like) about their websites.

This is a great exercise for inspiration. This should go without saying, but avoid copying competitors directly or following their design too closely. Plagiarism isn’t cool.

Figure out which sites you like

Inspiration is all around us. Sometimes the best comes from outside your own niche.

Think about the websites you use most. They’re probably user friendly, which means they’re perfect for design inspiration. Try not to look at really extravagant websites; instead think about simple sites like John Lewis and Apple.

This can give you an idea of the basic style that you like. Maybe it’s a website with a hearty menu like John Lewis or something more simple like Apple.

Don’t overthink it

Overthinking website design has killed many good ideas.

You don’t want to know how many times we are asked how someone will know to scroll down the page. If you’re asking that, you’re overthinking it. Simply think about how you use websites. You instinctively know how to scroll and operate a menu. Your customers do too!

Go with your gut when it comes to website design. Choose an aesthetic you would like looking at and using. After all, you’re going to be looking at it a lot!

K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple, Silly. Less is usually more when it comes to website design. You don’t need a complicated website to get results.

Adding effects to every button and image might seem like a great idea, but flashy pages often don’t achieve results. Some animation is OK in moderation, you just don’t want to end up with a site that isn’t user friendly.

Want to see examples of good web design? Head over to our recent work. (Yeah, we’re biased.)