Back to Basics: Strength In Simplicity

We’ve talked about some of the hottest web design trends to consider when you’re in the market for a new or revamped website.

We’ve waxed lyrical about how psychology underpins our design decisions.

But now we want to stress how important it is to keep things simple, folks!

All the fancy effects aside, when our skilled and experienced web designers plan for a new website build, they’re ultimately most focused on user experience and layout. Because if the basics don’t work seamlessly, added effects will only serve to highlight the lack.

These are the must-haves that come before trends, every day of every year:

• Well-structured content: it should be easy for users to find what the information and products that they need and are looking for
• Clear navigation: the navigation bar should make it easy for users to find specific pages, like About Us, Services, and Contact without unnecessary clutter 
• Legible: fonts and text, whether left-justified or in text boxes, should be easily readable and properly sized for the screen, keeping in mind spacing and overlays with a comfortable level of contrast
• White space: using plenty of negative space allows what you do include to stand out, while avoiding visual clutter and overwhelm
• Fast load time: page load can be sped up using optimized images and proper caching, taking a “load-as-you-go” approach to complex things (e.g. videos) and avoiding bulky plugins–speed is key!
• Mobile-friendly: web pages need to be easily “thumbable” when scrolling, and should be kept light, avoiding too many images, GIFs, videos, or other elements that could bog things down or create alignment or functionality issues for mobile users
• Appropriate branding: images, “feel” of the page and color scheme should lend themselves naturally to the business type and ethos
• Easy user interactions: require as little work as possible from site users, avoiding burying information with multiple clicks where possible and keeping layout clear and simple
• Testimonials and examples: showcase work and customer feedback to help new site visitors to get a more complete picture of what to expect while also building trust

Several of these basics were previous years’ trends that have really stuck, due to their intrinsic value to users. Basically anything that improves the user’s experience in a meaningful, problem-solving way is where to focus the majority of your efforts and budget. The extra nice-to-haves can’t be prioritized over quick load times or clear page layouts. Get the basics covered and then get into effects.

What we’ve found is that it’s the backend stuff, the less sexy parts of design, that are the fundamentals when it comes to building a great website. What’s the goal of having a website anyway? Isn’t it to attract potential customers, hold their attention, and hopefully make some sort of conversion while they’re visiting? Well there’s a lot of psychology and deliberate decision-making that goes into both directing and focusing attention and encouraging engagement when you aren’t face-to-face with someone, when your website is doing the talking for you.

Alt Media Studios Is Your Web Design Agency

This could all sound very logical, but without an expert by your side, it can be hard to know if your design choices are checking all the boxes. How do you make your website stand out from the crowd, but in the best way possible? Work with a web design team that understands current web design trends but also has the professional chops needed to stick to solid design principles.

Get in touch with Alt Media’s diverse team of digital marketing experts to learn how we can use everything at our disposal to thoughtfully and intentionally scratch build your one-of-a-kind website while keeping things easy-breezy for site visitors.