Isn’t it amazing how some websites manage to look incredibly polished while others look amateur? While it’s not difficult to separate thoughtful designs from the not-so-thoughtful ones, getting a website “just right” boils down to a few key details.
To give your website a slick appearance without doing a complete redesign, here are five tips to apply.
1. Practice Consistency
With so many colors and fonts to choose from, it’s tempting to want to combine several of them. While it may be fun to experiment, your website will end up looking cluttered and disjointed.
Let the fonts and colors you select work for your brand. Thin, cursive fonts tend to be feminine, while ones that are bold and black are masculine. Choose two main fonts that match the personality of your brand – one for the main headings and one for the body text. As for colors, I recommend selecting two that complement each other and matching them with lighter and softer shades of each.
2. Achieve Alignment
Alignment is a subtle but crucial part of a professional design. With proper alignment, your site will look neat, uncluttered and polished. The best way to ensure proper alignment is to focus on a breathable design. This means that all elements – images, texts, icons – are evenly spaced. If you want to draw attention to certain areas, try using border spacing.
3. Add Quality Images
Nothing will kill your design more than a few bad pictures will. All images and logos should be crisp, clear and high in resolution. Aside from using your own eyes, look up the size of the image to determine its quality. You can do this by right clicking on the image. File size should be 1MB, with the exception of logos that can be 500KB. If the image looks blurry in any way, find an alternative.
4. Write Compelling Text
A good design is complemented by well-written text that is free of spelling and grammatical errors. If you don’t have a reliable editor on hand, use a grammar tool like Grammarly to pick up on errors that would otherwise sabotage your content. Also, your content should be easy to read from a logical and visual standpoint.
5. Opt for a Clean, Spacious Background
Last thing to pay attention to is the background. An open, spacious background is always best as it makes the text comfortable to read. Choose a contrasting color from your text and play around with a range of filters. You can find a look that is whimsical, vibrant, faded or vintage.
To achieve a proficient design, you don’t have to go overboard with various fonts, colors and images. In fact, simplicity is best. It allows your design to communicate your message, keep users on track and maintain professionalism. By applying the tips above, you can fine tune your website without having to do a complete makeover.
