Web design tips for beginners are essential for anyone looking to turn their creative ideas into a functional and seamless piece of art. As an aspiring web designer, you might be feeling excited to venture into the world of web design principles—but the big question is: where should you start? If you are wondering what you need to know before designing your first website, we have crafted the following 10 must-know web design tips for beginners to help your budding career as a web designer.
1. Understand the basics of UX and UI design
As someone who is new to the world of visual design, you might have heard of UX and UI design but may be confused by the difference between the two. Don’t worry, this guide will make it simpler for you.
Before you start creating your own website, it is essential for you to understand the basics of User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design to create a website that prioritizes user needs and design elements appropriately. These are key components in learning the basics of web design and ensuring your site functions smoothly and looks appealing.
Here is the difference between UX and UI design:
User Experience (UX) design is the overall experience of the user with the website. Basically, it is concerned with how the user interacts with the elements in your website. It is important that you ensure that the site is easy to navigate and that it meets the user’s needs.
Meanwhile, User Interface (UI) design is the feel and look of the website. This includes the layout, colors, fonts, icons, buttons and other visual elements.
In essence, User Experience (UX) is about the experience that the user has with the website, while User Interface (UI) is the visual presentation of the website.
Understanding the basics and fundamentals of UX and UI design before you dive into website designing will successfully help you create a website that is functional, and at the same time, visually pleasing.
2. Look for inspiration
With the rising popularity of e-commerce and use of different social media platforms, a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs utilize websites to market their products and services. Some organizations also put up their own websites to provide information to their target audience in an attempt to gain traction. With this said, a lot of websites are now available for users to access.
As a web designer who is just starting out, you can look for inspiration from different sources and analyze which web designs work or do not work. Pay attention to the fonts and colors that they use and the arrangement of different elements. Find out different types of web design and to which kind of brands they are most suitable to employ. To help you get started, here are some web design tips: The more knowledge that you have and the more that you expose yourself to different types of web design, the easier it will be for you to create an effective and desirable website that reflects the principles of good web design.
3. Create a wireframe
As a beginner, start with a wireframe to plan your website’s structure. It helps visualize the layout, identify issues early, and saves time on future adjustments. If you are worrying about where to create your wireframe, there are free online tools available that you can use to create wireframes like Figma, Canva, and Miro.
It may sound tempting to immediately build your website but creating a wireframe will make it easier for you to carry out your plan and put it into place. This is one of the most important web design tips in mastering website design basics.
4. Keep it simple
While it’s tempting to add complex animations and layouts, simplicity is key. Users visit to find information, not to admire design. Avoid distractions like pop-ups and confusing layouts that may drive them away.
Strive to create a website that is clean and minimalistic with an ample amount of white space around elements to make it legible and easier to navigate. Keeping things simple aligns with core web design principles that every designer should apply.
To keep your website simple, some things you can do is:
- Limit the number of elements in each section.
- Make use of whitespace.
- Stick to a color scheme—avoid using a multitude of colors.
- Avoid excessive animations and unnecessary links.
- Write concise and legible paragraphs.
- Keep related content in one place.
- Section headings in order of importance.
5. Choose appropriate fonts
Understanding typography is also an important part of web design tips. This involves choosing and arranging text to make it legible and visually appealing to viewers or readers. Typography has the power to elicit emotions, convey messages, and communicate the tone of the brand.
There are 3 main types of fonts:
- Serif Fonts is characterized as fonts with feet or small lines at the end of the strokes of the letters. They are considered to be traditional and formal in appearance.
- Sans Serif Fonts do not have feet or small lines at the end of the letters which is opposite to serif. These fonts give off a modern and clean look.
- Display Fonts are designed mainly for decorative purposes. They are often used to attract attention. Not suitable for body text.
When choosing and using fonts, consider the following:
- Keep the tone of your brand in mind.
- Choose no more than two or three fonts to promote consistency.
- Use different text sizes, weights, and fonts for headings and body text to create visual hierarchy.
- Make fonts legible—set the body text at least 16 pt.
- Use display fonts sparingly—prioritize readability.
- Use appropriate line spacing—at least a space and a half in between lines to avoid making it look crowded.
If users can’t find what they’re looking for quickly, they’ll leave without hesitation. Having a solid and effective navigation will help improve user experience and help them go through the website as smoothly as possible.
Below are some web design tips you can employ to create a solid and effective website navigation:
- Link logo to your homepage to help them save time with finding the homepage icon or bar.
- Use descriptive labels for links on navigation bars (e.g. “About Us”, “Contact Us”, “Our Products”)
- If you choose to use icons instead of labels for links, make sure they are relevant to the intended label.
- Structure or organize your menu or descriptive labels in order of importance.
- Place important or relevant links in your website footer including contact information or social media accounts.
- If you opt for icons instead of labels for links, ensure they are relevant to the intended label.
7. Make your website flexible
It is essential that your design must be flexible enough to be responsive—meaning that your website should be able to function well on any device, whether it may be a mobile phone, tablet, laptop, or personal computer.
Since users mostly possess mobile phones or use their mobile phones more often than their other devices, it would be best to follow the mobile-first approach in which you will start designing from the smallest screen size until you can advance to the larger screen sizes.
Ensure that your design in every screen is functional, seamless, and responsive to boost user engagement with the website and stay in line with web design principles that focus on usability.
8. Prioritize Website Speed
Every single element that you add in your website such as images, videos, plugins etc. can contribute to the loading speed of that particular page or section. If a site is crowded with a lot of elements in every section, it will likely slow down the loading speed of your site. It will not matter if your website looks good because the users will leave before they could even see it due to the slow loading speed.
Make sure to check the loading speed of every page in your website. If a page appears to run slowly, you can opt to do the following:
- Compress images
- Limit the use of plugins
- Remove unnecessary features
9. Test your website thoroughly
Once you have built your website, it is crucial to test it early and often to ensure that everything functions as desired or expected. Testing your website can help identify significant problems or issues within that can allow you to immediately address or improve on it.
Check for possible broken links or unresponsive layout during the testing process. With this in mind, you also need to test on various devices and browsers to ensure that the website is fully responsive and functional on the users’ end.
Testing is one of the most underrated web design tips for ensuring your site performs well across all platforms.
10. Get feedback
Conclusion
Before publishing your website, you may want to consider getting some outsider’s perspective on what you have created. You may feel uncomfortable with constructive feedback especially as a beginner, but trust us, feedback is absolutely necessary during the web designing process. Gaining feedback can help you understand a user’s initial experience or impression on your work. You can use that feedback to identify and address areas that need improvement.
Surely, designing a website for the first time is not as easy as it sounds but following our tips in website design will at the very least help you take your first step in creating desirable and functional websites. Along the way, you may find yourself struggling during the process of becoming a successful web designer, but never stop learning and improving! Remember, web designing is a skill that gets better overtime with consistent practice and dedication. And the more you learn about the basics of web design tips, the more confident you’ll become in building excellent websites.