10 Keys to Elegant Website Design

Striking the perfect balance between aesthetics and usability is key to crafting great user experiences. So how will your website give every visitor a great experience? 4-minute read.

A well-designed site builds trust and guides visitors to take action, all the while creating an enjoyable user experience. So how will your website give every visitor a great experience? Read on to learn 10 keys to great site design:

1. Communicate clearly. Visitors must immediately and effortlessly recognize why your website exists, what you’re offering, and what actions they can take. Without visitors end up frustrated, leaving never to return. Avoid slang and overly technical copy. Test readability and legibility. Know that your message is on point and immediately understood by any user.
2. Visual language. You are telling your story through the users eyes. Site colors, icons, typography and imagery become a powerful visual language that is the backbone of your unique brand identity. When combined with well-written content, an effective visual language helps create a cohesive, memorable and enjoyable experience throughout your site.
3. Seamless navigation. Keeping navigation simple, intuitive, and consistent are key to a great navigation experience. Without it, users struggle to understand what to do and leave. Your navigation must feel predictable. Use a combination with structured menus, keyword searches, and internal linking.  But, keep it simple by incorporating clear labels, intuitive categories, and consistent placement of elements.
4. Familiar comfort. Elegant websites feel familiar, even at the first encounter because the design follows established conventions. Great designers build clarity and usability on conventions because they represent mental models that visitors have established by visiting countless other sites. For example, an innovative approach such as placing your navigation menu on the bottom of the page may look great, it is far from what users have come to know and expect, and likely would cause significant usability issues.
5. Responsiveness. Ensure that your site effortlessly adjusts to your visitor’s device or browser so that visitors always experience your site as you intended.
6. Structural integrity.  Well-organized sites are easy to digest. Hierarchy helps you structure content meaningfully so that users feel a logical flow helping visitors find what they want faster. Use color, contrast, size, white space, alignment and movement to your advantage.
7. Unwavering consistency. A cohesive look, feel and functionality ensures rewarding user experiences. Think about how color, typography, imagery, icons, buttons and copy style adds to or takes away from site functionality. Craft familiar experiences through consistent design.
8. Performance perks. Slow is ugly. Your site should load quickly, work properly, and give users feedback when there’s an issue or delay. Optimize site performance by eliminating any design elements that make your site the least bit sluggish. After all, it an elegant site doesn't work, how would you know it's elegant.
9. Friction-less interactions. Users should find converting intuitively easy. Whether you're asking visitors to sign up, subscribe, or buy, reduce the process to only the essential elements. Incorporate conversion processes that are free of distraction, confusion, and frustration are vital. Test for and eliminate unnecessary steps.
10. Stewardship. Visitors trust great websites through clear, consistent and accurate information free of errors, confusing copy and dead links. Good sites also communicate with transparency clearly citing fees and pricing, reasons for collecting personal data, and genuine customer reviews to inspire feelings of trust and confidence.

---