10 Principles of Web Design for an Engaging User Experience

Calls to action must be clear and conversions should always be a priority. Layouts and page elements should stand out and be memorable. The Reciprocation Rule is the principle of feeling obligated to pay someone when they have provided us with something. Coherence makes thinking easier, as it reduces the amount of thinking required.

If you can get someone to commit, you can activate the Consistency Rule and the commitment can be small and seemingly inconsequential. The rule of taste can best be explained by the example of Tupperware parties, where the products became a success when sold in person by people who knew each other. The best design in the world won't matter if your visitors can't see your site or don't stay long enough to convert. Internet consumers are a somewhat impatient group, with about 30 percent expecting a site to load in a second or less, while nearly half expect a website to appear in two seconds.

Any millisecond beyond that increases your chances of losing that reader or buyer forever. As for choosing a color scheme, paying attention to the perspectives of your brand or industry along with the demographics of your target audience will make this process a little painless. It is always looking for ways to reduce the range of the approximately 7 million discernible shades that the eye can detect. In general, the same demographic and industry principles can be said for the typography (or fonts) you choose to communicate your message.

More formal roles, such as lawyers and accountants, will probably want to stick with distinguished serif fonts (which have the extra parts hanging at the end of the letters), while we imagine that the photographer would use a very light and airy sans serif font (without extra bits). The text must be easily readable, which generally means that the body of the text must be at least 16 pixels. Using a companion font is ideal for headers or accents, but don't go beyond three fonts or unnecessary size adjustments. Just as interior designers don't stop once you paint the walls, you don't finish once you've chosen the design, color scheme, typefaces and pretty elements of your choice.

It's time to put the sofa and hang family photos on the wall, paying attention to the way your messages interact with your design. An effective website design must fulfill its intended function by conveying your particular message while at the same time engaging the visitor. Several factors, such as consistency, colors, typography, images, simplicity and functionality, contribute to good website design. Simplicity is key when you consider user experience and usability of your website.

Color has the power to communicate messages and evoke emotional responses. Finding a color palette that fits your brand will allow you to influence customer behavior towards your brand. Keep color selection limited to less than 5 colors for pleasant combinations that increase customer engagement and make users feel good. Typography has an important role to play on your website; it attracts attention and works like the visual interpretation of the brand's voice.

Fonts must be legible and use only a maximum of 3 different fonts on the website. Navigation is key to retaining visitors; if it's confusing they will give up and find what they need somewhere else. Keeping navigation simple, intuitive and consistent on every page is key. The visual hierarchy is the arrangement of elements in order of importance; this is done by size, color, images, contrast, typography, white space, texture and style.

One of its most important functions is establishing a focal point; this shows visitors where the most important information is located. Waiting for a website to load will lose visitors; optimizing image size will help your site load faster. Forever 21 uses soft colors in its color scheme; they found out that conversion rate with personal photos doubled when they replaced a regular stock photo with a photo of its founder. Just like “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, effective web design is judged by website users and not by website owners; there are many factors that affect usability and it's not just about form but also about function.

Websites that aren't well-designed tend to perform poorly and have Google Analytics metrics that aren't optimal. So what makes good web design? Below we explore 10 principles of web design that will make your website aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, attractive and effective: Adaptability - A good web design always adapts to user needs; Color - Finding a color palette that fits your brand will allow you to influence customer behavior towards your brand; Typography - Fonts must be legible and use only a maximum of 3 different fonts on the website; Navigation - Keeping navigation simple, intuitive and consistent on every page is key; Visual Hierarchy - Establishing a focal point shows visitors where important information is located; Speed - Waiting for a website to load will lose visitors; Optimization - Optimizing image size will help your site load faster; Taste - Forever 21 uses soft colors in its color scheme; User Experience - Simplicity is key when considering user experience; Functionality - Websites must fulfill their intended function.

Gloria Foulke
Gloria Foulke

Wannabe twitter lover. Freelance social media maven. Friendly twitter nerd. Hipster-friendly zombie advocate. Avid zombie practitioner. Amateur baconaholic.