Insite Web design Service
Design Principles
People only visit a website for two reasons. Primarily to find information and secondly for entertainment. So it's crucial that you organise your site so that people can find what they are looking for easily. There are tons of sites that will tell you anything from the 5 to 25 golden rules of website building. Here I've boiled them down and included my own philosophy towards building a great site.
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My Philosophy
What, Who, Why, Where, When & How
I apply this philosophy from a simple lesson I learned at school thanks to Reginald Arthur Swinford, the best teacher I ever had. He made me précis the front of the newspaper for weeks. I had no idea at the time it would teach me to keep all the salient facts but do it in fewer words.
It taught me to be succinct and precise. I think it is an old mantra from fleet street reporters or journalists. If you include all those things in a news story you've covered everything the reader needs to know.
These are the very basic functions of a website and coveres everything someone could be looking for, What it is you do, who you are, why you do what you do, Where you do what you do, and When and How people can get in touch. Do all those things and you've covered the basics. Then it's all down to looks.
I follow these simple principles when designing a website. They are tried and tested. Combined with my own personal philosophy I use these to plan and design clean, well structured sites that visitors can navigate easily and are engaging.
Keep It Simple
We're bombarded with visuals and ads every day, which has significantly shortened our attention span. So you should use as few design elements as possible, and ensure each element serves a purpose.
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Keeping options to a minimum will increase the odds of your audience revisiting and staying on your website.
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This principle is also called Hick’s Law. It’s the simple idea that the more choices you present someone with, the longer it will take them to reach a decision.
Consistency
Use a consistent color scheme, font style, and other design elements to create a cohesive look. Consistency makes a site easier to read and navigate.
Typography
Font choice
The font you choose should be easily readable and conistent throughout your site. Fussy handrwriting fonts should be used sparingly used for emphasis.
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Being faced with a wall of words makes your site more daunting. It's better to break up content into smaller chunks. This makes it much easier for the reader.
Imagery & Colour
Images
The old addage " a picture says a thousand words" says it all really. Well chosen imagery will enhance your text and engage your visitor.
Colour
Colour is an important consideration. It can have great effect on the readability and mood of your site. Like everything, too much colour can be distracting.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Meta Data
This is your first chance to grab someone's attention. A well writen, succinct metadescription is an invaluable chance to describe your page. The better writen it is, the more chance you have of driving traffic to your site.
Links
The more, Outgoing, Incoming, or backlinks you have, the better for your Google ranking. In-site links or jump links help a visitor quickly jump to what they're looking for.
Keywords
These are important page tags and identify what the page is about. Good keyword choice will help you get to the right audience.
Navigation
People are inpatient when it comes to finding what they are looking for. Navigation of the information on your site needs to be sealessly linked and easy to use. Subheadings can provide a jump to more specific information on a page.