What does web design involve?
What is important for good web design? Art, technology, creativity, and psychology – they all play a role in web design.
Web design is more than just a beautiful website. Many different areas work together to create a coherent, effective overall design. So, it’s not just about a website looking good. It has to function, inspire, and make users’ lives easier. But what really lies behind good web design? Let’s dive in!
Visual design – the first impression counts!
You know the feeling: a website opens and BOOM – you’re either immediately impressed or click away in frustration. Web design creates that first impression. But is that important?
Colors evoke emotions. Blue, for example, evokes trustworthiness, red dynamic. Green appears fresh, inviting, and modern.
Typography – the choice of fonts – is equally important. They should be clear and legible, yet still aesthetically pleasing and as unique as possible.
Images and graphics: A good image is worth a thousand words. And a bad one will scare away visitors.
Fun Fact: Studies have shown that users decide whether they like a web design or not within just 0.05 seconds!
User Experience (UX/UI) – The Invisible Hero
The most beautiful website is of little use if no one can navigate it. The user experience (UX) ensures that visitors feel comfortable on a website and can easily find the information they are looking for. The user interface (UI) ensures that they can do all this in a pleasant environment. It is responsible for ensuring that a website is not only practical, but also pleasant and enjoyable.
Intuitive navigation is crucial. Anyone who has to search for a long time loses interest. Fast loading times are also important: every second of delay costs visitors. Furthermore, good websites should be accessible to everyone – including people with disabilities. Accessibility therefore also plays a major role.
Responsive Design – Perfection on Every Device
These days, we surf everywhere: at home on a laptop, at the office on a huge screen, but also on the go on a smartphone – or with a tablet on the couch. All very different devices with very different capabilities. And therefore, a website must look good and function perfectly on each of these devices. Responsive design ensures that this actually works. The web design of a website automatically adapts to the respective screen size. Multi-column sections, for example, become narrower on a smartphone, the columns shift and are now displayed one below the other instead of side by side. The menu, which normally takes up the entire width of the window, also changes. On smartphones, it is usually hidden behind a “hamburger” icon and only expands downwards when it is actually needed.
Fun Fact: More than 60% of internet traffic today comes from mobile devices. Without a responsive website, you’ll lose all of these visitors. Responsiveness is therefore crucial to the success of a website or web design!
The technical foundation of a website
If a web design consisted solely of a design, it wouldn’t work. Then you’d have nothing but an image. It’s only through its technical foundation, the invisible framework, that a web design becomes a functioning website. Behind every cool website lies not only an impressive web design, but also a technical masterpiece! Without clean code, nothing works.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Making Google Love You!
What good is the most beautiful website if no one can find it? Search engine optimization – or SEO for short – ensures that your site ranks high in search results. This involves using powerful keywords, i.e., terms people search for. Fast loading times are equally important – Google hates slow pages! The right images are also crucial. From an SEO perspective, they must not only be beautiful, but also data-friendly. Especially on mobile devices!
Fun Fact: Websites that rank on page 1 of Google receive over 90% of all clicks! Visibility is everything!
Content – The Heart of Every Website
Web design without content is nothing. Text, images, and videos bring a website to life and inform visitors. Good content must therefore be relevant and answer users’ questions. Clear headings, short paragraphs, and simple language ensure a good, easy-to-understand structure. Storytelling ensures that information sticks. A blog with valuable tips, for example, keeps visitors on a page longer. Google loves that!
Conclusion: Web design is art, technology, and psychology
Good web design is a finely tuned interplay of creativity, technology, and user focus. It’s about inspiring, informing, and guiding people – whether on mobile or on the big screen. And the best part? Web design is constantly evolving – those who remain curious can help shape the future of the internet!
Image source: Jackson Sophat / Unsplash