Beauty is subjective, and it’s certainly apparent with products of art such as paintings, music, and books. Nonetheless, there’s still an aspect of objectivity when it comes to producing quality art. After all, “the devil is in the detail”.
When it comes to website designing, objectivity is a must. Similar to writing a book or composing music, there’s art in technicality when designing a website. Avoid common web design mistakes by learning more about the technical aspects behind web design.
Cluttered page
One of the earliest and most prominent web design mistakes up to this day is the cluttering of the site’s layout. This mistake is attributed to the messy combination of too many colours, disrupting the balance of the site’s design.
As presented in the image above, there’s too much going on. So many colours clash with each other and images are all over the place. There’s no balance and arrangement. The lack of order in the web design will make visitors exit the site in a few seconds.
Carefully plan the theme and content of your web design. Plan ahead and create a cohesive arrangement of colours and content. Don’t clutter the page with too many items and colours. Design the site to look more pleasing to the viewer.
Dull design
If there’s too much of something, there’s also the lack thereof. A boring or dull web design pertains to the lack of anything exciting, pleasing, or appealing. Even though minimalism is the ongoing trend these days, dull web design is anything but.
With minimalism, there’s a certain blend of simplistic and appealing visuals. The artist makes sure the simplistic design complements the lack of complexity. On the other hand, boring web design is just plain DULL. There’s nothing engaging or relaxing to the viewer.
Busy layout
Similar to the first common mistake, a busy website is composed of too images and content. The difference lies in the balance and composition. A busy website can retain its balance and orderly appeal but is still loaded with too much content.
An overloaded site can confuse the viewers, discouraging them from visiting the website. Avoid this mistake by arranging everything into position and putting enough content. This way, your visitors won’t be confused and lost while exploring your website.
Misplaced ads
Nobody likes viewing too many ads in one place. Don’t make the mistake of misplacing ads in your web design.
Arrange the ads in the correct form to make sure they’re not situated too close to each other. The visitor might be annoyed after seeing too many ads near each other.
Misplaced ads can also refer to coincidental occurrences like the one pictured above. See how the ad is coincidentally positioned next to the image of an injured driver. They look almost alike, and the context is simply off-putting. If your visitors witness you doing the same thing on your site, it could leave a bad impression of your brand.
Not mobile-friendly
Everyone uses a mobile phone! Well, not everyone but probably almost everyone. This means most of your visitors are probably mobile users. Give them the convenience of user-friendly website exploration by designing it to be mobile-friendly.
A mobile-friendly website gives off the impression that you care about your site. It gives off a vibe that you’re “serious” about your web design, regardless of the device being used by your visitors.
Having a website that’s not mobile-friendly is the equivalent of telling your customers “I’m lazy and I don’t care about mobile users”. Of course, this shouldn’t be taken to literally! Remember to design a mobile-friendly site to give your customers a pleasant experience.
Putting social media icons on top
It’s common for websites to have social media links (usually in the form of icons). But for others, there’s the prominent mistake of putting their icons on the very top of the website. This is a huge no because this can distract the user into leading them somewhere else. It denies the purpose of designing a cohesive website, which is to lead the viewer into exploring the whole page of the site.
By putting your social media links or icons on top, you’re immediately distracting the user. Don’t make this mistake by putting them anywhere. You can position these icons on the sides or ideally at the bottom of your page, but never ever on top.
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