• March 30, 2020
• on Marketing, Website Design
• by TLj Creative Marketing

7 Important Ingredients for the Perfect Website! [updated 3/30/20]

They say that the first impression is the last impression. You don’t get a second chance at that. Your website is the primary face of your brand. So it’s safe to say it’s is quite important to get it right. Incorporating creative design and smart ideas in your website design will give you a chance to stand out from the crowd. And if you run a web design company then it’s your sacred duty to show your creativity and provide a positive experience for your audience.

As a designer, your first job is to solve digital communication problems and create a design based on your target audience. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be boring. You should always bring creative design and bold, playful ideas to your web page thus decreasing the rate of visitors drifting.

Now, without further ado, let’s disclose the 7 most important ingredients of creative design that should be considered and the rules you need to live by to have the perfect website for your business.

1st rule of creative design is to create a top-level framework:

The framework of any website is considered as the User Interface that surrounds the content of the website. It allows the user to perform an action and navigate through it. It includes everything like sidebars, bottom bars, and navigation. When you sketch your design from this perspective, you can have a clear idea of how your layouts need to be.

Reading Suggestion: FREE EBOOK: “Market Your Website in 6 Simple Steps”

This ingredient is really important. Yet most web designers just jump straight to work without giving any thought about how they are going to design sections beyond the homepage. Creative design is all about solving problems. So if you don’t give much thought to your layout, then you will likely end up with a non-functioning website.

Next time you hire a web design company, ask them questions about how they are going to sketch the framework for your website. This will provide a better understanding of their approach to the design.

During development of the framework, make a note of the new ideas you are going to include to your design. To add creativity to your web pages, you can always look for inspiration from other websites for a start. Note: Don’t copy word-to-word from other websites and end up with plagiarism issues. Looking for inspiration inside and outside the internet will give you a better understanding of what to do and what not to do while creating an engaging website design.

Choosing a color theme plus quick note about Grids:

85% of shoppers make purchasing decisions on basis of color. Humans are visually driven. Our visual stimuli guide us in everything. Most companies have a tendency to stick to a distinct color scheme that is associated with their brand identity. Any professional web design company knows it’s wise to stick to a limited set of tones and color for the general UI. When you choose too many colors, it will be hard for you to establish a unified design. In this case, just follow the 60-30-10 rule. That means only three colors should be used in different degrees to create harmony.

Let the primary color of your chosen palette to cover 60% area of your layout. It should also be used to create the overall unifying theme of the design. Then you should move to create a contrast with the primary color to have a visually striking effect. This color palette should cover 30% of the design.  The remaining 10% should be reserved for complementing either the primary color or the secondary color.

NOTE: Grids help you to achieve effective alignment and consistency with little effort. “Winging it” and relying on your gut does not scale so well. If executed properly, your designs will appear thoughtful, organized, neat and structurally sound.

TIP: To establish a formidable presence in the new tech world, you must come up with a quality and creative design for your website. So to have the best team working on your website, focus on hiring a web design company with a variety of past project to share.

Choosing the right typography:

Choosing different typefaces is part of the discovery phase of website designing. It is recommended to use only one or two set of typefaces but mostly your choice of typeface should depend on the nature of your website. When choosing typography, you should have three things in mine.

• The font needs to be easy to read for big chunks of texts. The sizes and shapes of the font have a huge impact on the readability of your website.
• The font should to be playful for titles and calls to action.
• Last but not least, the font needs to resonate with your brand’s personality.

Use big fonts and pick creative but clean typefaces.

Using hand-crafted typography in web designing is a new trend now. Although it’s a different approach to web designing, it adds personality to the brand and helps to maintain a fun and interactive relationship with the audience.

2018 has brought a big change in typography. Now we are replacing images with jumbo size characters. Web designers are using typography as a tool to create innovative artwork by bringing bold type into design trends.

When it comes to choosing the right typography for your website, ask your web design professional to consider the tone of your business. It’s not always necessary to go with the most artistic typeface. Sticking to a simple but elegant typography can also help you to stand out and spark creativity.

Hire a web design company that creates mobile-friendly websites:

We live in a high-tech society. It will be hard to find a person in a modern society who doesn’t own a phone. So what every web designers should be asking is that if their design is mobile-friendly or not. Creating a mobile-friendly website for your business is a huge part of the creative design. More and more professional web designers are now thinking “mobile first”.

A website that is not only creatively designed but also is easy to use on the go is what we need.

NOTE: To increase the conversion rate, make sure the users don’t go through endless scrolling to find what they need.

Quick tips to optimize your website for mobile devices,

• When designing a website, consider how the contents of your website will be displayed on the mobile device. Then develop a plan for how your website will adapt to larger devices.
• Do not frustrate the users with pop-ups and refreshers. Make sure your users can refresh the page if they need to.
• Include a viewpoint meta tag – without this description, the site won’t run as functionally as it does on the desktop.
• Put yourself in your user’s shoes and check out every page, user actions, and buttons.

Most professional web designers are capable of designing a website that automatically adapts to the different types of devices it is viewed on. So there is no need to create separate websites for mobile and desktop devices.

Spice up your creative design with images and visuals:

Consumers are tuned into everything that happens on the internet. The quality of an image on blogs, websites, and other online content has a great impact on users. High-quality images and visuals add beauty to your creative design. While on the other hand, having poor quality images on your business websites can deterrent most consumers.

Consumers look for images that are relevant to your business, and authentic. This increases the conversion rate for your business. Nowadays finding good quality stock images for your website are quite easy.

The top trends in images and visuals in 2018:

• Brand themed visuals – a unique brand themed image can help your website to stand out.
• Authentic imagery – this visual resonate with your user’s persona and help to form a connection with your users.
• Bolder colors – this trend is really growing; it helps to attract the attention of your consumers faster.
• Minimalistic design – involves using bold colors, clean and crisp edges and images, creating a more authentic and relevant feel.

Adding images to your website gives you an opportunity to explain your content even before your visitors read the title. So choosing the right type of images for your site is quite important.

Not every stock image is going to fit the message you are sending to your target audience. Also if within your budget, original images can better evoke the trust of your clients in your company. Whether stock or original, ask your web design company to use genuine imagery in the design to will bring more realism to your brand.

Using bold color palettes and playful illustration is an integral part of the creative design:

When it comes to adding bold color palette and playful illustrations, go big or go home. Vibrant colors and fun illustrations create a fantasy land for your viewers. And if you are running a web design company then it’s the best way to showcase your creativity to your potential clients.

Vibrant color palette, bold and playful illustration is quite trendy in 2018. Sharp and stylized illustration with valuable information typed on adds beauty to your web design and give your business website a playful personality.

Let your imagination rule when you are fashioning a brand’s image. Using vivid color, rich design, decadent imagery, and showy patterns are all part of creative web design.  In 2018, the trend in the illustrations is to be maximalist. Using dramatic and intriguing illustrations on your website will pay tribute to the visitor’s sense of fantasy and will give your website the opportunity to stand out. 

In terms of emphasizing your brand’s motto, a common trick is to use high contrast color in your illustration. It will help your primary elements stand out against the background and also can help to keep things legible.

Navigation – is important for a good website design:

The core objective of designing any website is to make it easy to use. To increase the conversion rate, you have to make a website that is user-friendly and provides a great user experience. To have a website that is functioning and easy to navigate for your business, the best way to guarantee that is to select a professional web design company that has years of experience in this field.

When you don’t own a user-friendly website, your users might miss out on the creative little details that you’ve added on your website to make it look more striking and playful. A user-friendly website should be so easy to use that the visitor can intuitively find where to go and have various options to get there.

Quick tips to make your website easy to use:

• Keep your navigation bar clean and let each link to be clear and readable.
• Keep only 4-5 items on the menu bar so your visitor can quickly see their options and pick the ones they need. If you need to need more items, create submenus or just put them in the footer menu.
• Link your logo to your homepage. This has become common practice, users expect this quick shortcut.
• In case of vertical navigation, use anchor menu. This way users can quickly and easily move around the page, from top to bottom and places in between.

One of the most important rules of creative design is to create a website that a young child can figure out. You do not want to lose customers because it took too long for them to find what they were searching for OR to confirm that your website/business is right for them.

FINAL TIP: The best way to max out your creative potential is to always look for inspiration and experiment with different ideas. It doesn’t matter if your approach to web design is minimalist or maximalist. As long as your design resonates with the brand message, you are sure to catch the eye of your audience.

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For assistance with website strategy or social media marketing, contact Tisha Littlejohn at 312 798 9332 or info@tljcreativemarketing.com.

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