Websites have become a common feature of our everyday lives; many of us have a site of our own, and most of us will find ourselves referring to websites for fun, inspiration or education, almost every day of the week. So website designers are having to become more and more inventive in order to make their sites stand out from the crowd, and listed below are some features of a good looking website.
Balanced design: An effective website will not appear over loaded on one side, and empty on the other; site users find a balanced design much more pleasing on the eye, and less confusing to navigate.
Effective color theme: Every color used on a website represents something; instead of choosing a particular color because the site creator liked it, they chose a particular color because it was the right one to suit the theme, message and tone of their website.
Grid system: Using a grid system makes the information presented on a website much easier to absorb and read, and will also help a site to achieve balance.
Good graphics: A good looking website must have good graphics; that isn’t to say that they have to be particularly fancy or intricate – and not everybody has the skills to utilize them effectively – but even if you simply use an application like Photoshop and stock images, you’ll be able to create something tasteful and unique.
Great use of white space: Also referred to as ‘negative space’, white space can speak volumes if used effectively. It can provide space between the hustle and bustle of a site design or can be used to highlight certain elements simply by surrounding them with white space.
Typography: Simply put, typography is the art and technique of arranging type. The difference between a good website and a bad one can be a result of your choice of typeface and how it works with your layout, color and design theme. So it’s important not to neglect this particular aspect of website design.
A unified website: The best looking sites will be the ones that are unified, that is to say that the sites will present a consistent theme and design, from the range of fonts used to the icons and the colors. Any inconsistencies can result in a site looking unprofessional and with so much competition, errors like this need to be avoided.
So as you can see, achieving a good looking website does require time and effort to get right, but if you include all of the above elements, and ensure that your content is vibrant and interesting, then there is every chance that your site will prove successful.