In the past few years, I’ve taught a class focused on basic visual design techniques designed for developers. Similar to everything else online I’ve seen a wide range of design expertise and enthusiasm from students who have taken my course, as those developers I’ve collaborated with.10 Web Design Principles Which Every Developer. This list was created to be a brief list of the ideas I’d like developers that I am working with to comprehend about design. It’s intended to guide developers in the right direction and serve as a way to begin thinking about and talking about design.
1. Design isn’t only visual
It’s not just about the appearance and the character that lies underneath. Design, for some reason, is viewed as only the visual aspect of a website. It’s not true or wrongly understood. Design encompasses all aspects of the experience beginning from the moment visitors arrive on your site until after they’ve gone.
Design is the process of determining the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ that people would like to visit the site as well as how fast your website loads; the interactions with hovering, clicking, and even touch as well as the speed of delivering new features and contents. These are all elements of the concept of design.
Since design encompasses more than visuals and can affect the whole experience, every person working on a project can be an artist. Every team member who seeks to understand the way that users interact with the website is an expert in design. The front end, back end, and project management must all be looking at the design.
2. Be user-focused
The needs of the users must always be the main focus of any decision regarding your app or website. The design should help your users to achieve their goals quickly, with efficiency and, perhaps the most important thing, joy.
In my class, I ask students to write a preliminary design brief once they’ve decided on an idea to tackle. While I offer them basic instructions to adhere to, in the main part, they’re focusing on the user’s experience. Who are they? What are they doing on your website and what’s the experience you’d like them to feel when they visit your site as and when they go away?
Also Read: What is Web Design? The Ultimate Guide To Website Design
Although this can be useful for small-scale projects in the workshop. When it comes to larger projects, you need to think about this idea on a bigger scale. Designers employ personas, stories, and more to define the type of users on the site. And what they would like to accomplish on the website. Explore these guidelines regardless of the form they use for your project. And utilize these guidelines to inform every design decision you make.
3. Design is in detail
Detail can make an ‘excellent’ design’. Paying attention to the smallest details in the user experience could make the difference between a happy user and one who is annoyed. Finding the appropriate shade of blue or wrapping the link around the specific text is vital. The issue with details is that they are easy to get lost in the details. In fact, focusing too much on details, in the beginning, isn’t necessary and could cause a slowdown in the process. It’s crucial to know when to pay attention to specific areas or to see the whole, bigger view.
4. When designing, it is common to sketch.
The benefits(opens in a new tab) of sketching user experience are well-documented. Sketching can help you think about hierarchy, content, and flow, among other things. Sketches are affordable, simple to create, and extremely fast. It is recommended that you come up with a fresh idea every thirty seconds. Sketching is also among the most effective methods to communicate ideas regarding layout, user experience, user experience, and the flow of a website.
The first professor at my college instilled this into me while I was in college. She would not let us access the computer until she had pages and pages of drawings. Young designers often skimp on their sketches or leave them completely. I have seen many designers making the transition too soon from sketches to a more resolution design without first looking at every possible solution.
The greatest thing about drawing is the fact that anybody can draw it. Anyone can sketch lines, boxes, and arrows. These are the basic tools that you’ll need to start making designs – it’s very simple. There’s no need to be a million-dollar work of art or even need an art degree to be a pro. It’s enough to be able to convey your drawings and the reasoning behind the sketches.
5. Utilize white space
It’s probably the most difficult thing for programmers to comprehend. The biggest benefit of having the appropriate quantity of whitespace is that it gives users an opportunity to take a break. Breaks are crucial to processing information, particularly when there’s a lot to deal with. That’s the reason we have sentences and paragraphs instead of one long block of text.
The most important thing is to ensure that the white space is in connection with other elements in the layout, such as the space around it. If you’re using a single row of white space ensure that there is a second column of white space to counterbalance it.
To create vertical space, make use of fractions of the text size of the body. This lets me choose font sizes simply by changing the scale according to what I need, bigger or smaller fonts.
6. Grids aren’t only CSS frameworks
Crazy, right? Grids were first introduced to design within what is now known as the International Typographic Style.
- Grids should be used for:
- Establish relationships between objects
- Establish a base system of visual alignment
- Help to create a horizontal and vertical rhythm
- Help create an optical balance
Each of these ideas combines to help you to create a more appealing visual interface for your users. The grid you choose influences the consistency of your design. At the end of the day, it’s only a tool that will only be as effective as the person who uses it.
7. If everything is emphasized and important, nothing else does
It’s similar to having a conversation with a group of people shouting at you to perform various tasks. One element must be given prominence on the screen: the primary one. The emphasis placed on a single aspect and creating an orderly hierarchy will provide readers with the flow and direct them in the correct direction.
8. Keep an inspiration file
Keep a collection of everything that you find inspiring visually. It could be images or videos, posters, T-shirts, posters, or websites. Anything that can provide ideas for the specific design issue you’re confronted with.
The simple act of choosing elements of design and storing them in an archived folder makes you make use of your analysis abilities.
9. The design process is about solving problems
It is important to think of web design as a series of issues needing solutions. Each element of the site should be based on a rationale to be there and should solve a specific issue for the user or designer. I tend to eliminate features from the list of features until the issue I’m trying to solve is clear.
Sometimes it’s difficult for us to articulate the issue instead of jumping to the solution. Thinking backward can help with this. If you are deciding whether something ought to have a red hue, for example, take a moment to think about the reasons that led you to choose to be red in the first place.
10. Be able to discuss and criticize the design
The best method to provide positive feedback would be to draw your attention to any issues in the design. There is evidence based on the user’s experience and the flow of the site designs. Goals for design and visual concepts to justify the problems. You observe the design. What is successful for the user and the design?
