There are many mistakes that you can make when designing your website. Here are five of the most common:
- Using too many fonts
- Not using enough white space
- Overcrowding your pages with images and text
- Not using a grid system
- Choosing an obscure colour scheme
These mistakes can lead to visitors having difficulty navigating your site or becoming easily distracted by its design. By avoiding these pitfalls in the first place, you will be able to create a beautiful website without any of these issues coming up!
Using too many fonts
When it comes to website design, it’s important to use fonts that are easy to read and complement each other. If you use too many different fonts, your website will look cluttered and unprofessional. Stick to two or three fonts at most, and make sure that they are all different enough from each other that they don’t clash.
Equally, If you don’t use enough different fonts, your website will look generic or like a printed document instead of something dynamic and exciting. A great free tool we use every day is Fonts in the wild. Here you can really get a flavour for what fonts work well in different design settings.
Our advice would be to stick to the same font for all the headers on your page, and the same font for your body text. If you are opting to use the same font for both, be sure to still give your content a good hierarchy by using heavier font weights and sizes for heading text.
Not using enough white space
One of the most common mistakes made when designing a website is not using enough white space. White space is essential for making your pages look clean and organized, and it can also help to emphasize important elements on the page. If your pages are too crowded with text and images, it can be difficult for users to find what they’re looking for. By using more white space, you can make your website easier to navigate and more visually appealing.
By using plenty of whitespace, you can also make your content stand out and be easier to scan. When most people first visit your website, they will usually spend only around 10 seconds scanning the page to make sure it contains the information they were looking for. If it’s not easily identified within this time, then they will bounce right off your sight, never to be seen again.
We recommend adding anywhere between 3 – 8em units of white space to the top and bottom of each section and making sure you use the right amount of padding between your elements to avoid your page looking cramped and outdated.
Overcrowding your pages with images and text
When designing a website, it’s important to use images and text sparingly. If you overcrowd your pages with too much information, it can be difficult for visitors to find what they’re looking for. Also, too many images can slow down the loading time of your website, which can be frustrating for visitors. Try to stick to a few key images and text blocks that will convey your message effectively.
Split your site out into sections and use key headlines so it is clear from a glance what each section is focussing on. When deciding on what to write, make sure you focus on the benefit you will give the customer and try to make them connect with your brand through emotion.
Use images that bring to life how your product or service will make them feel rather than just showing the product itself.
Not using a grid system
Not a lot of people realise that when designing a website, it’s important to use a grid system to create a layout that is both visually appealing and easy to navigate.
Without a grid system, your website can look cluttered and unprofessional. By using a grid, you can easily align your text and images so that your page looks neat and organized.
This doesn’t mean that your site needs to look like a table from an Excel spreadsheet, but rather that you should make sure your headings and text are aligned in a way that makes sense and flows throughout the page. The way websites are built through basic HTML and CSS means that some parts will act as ‘block’ elements – meaning they will stack on top of one another. And some parts are treated as ‘inline’ elements – meaning they will group together side-by-side.
Don’t worry, It’s not as complicated as it sounds. But if you’ve read this far and are thinking you are getting out of your depth, do not worry – One Web Creations, based in Dunfermline, Fife can take care of all the hard work for you and produce your dream website today. The cost isn’t as much as you would think, and you can rest assured that your site will be built in such a way that customers will start pouring into your business.
Choosing an obscure colour scheme
When choosing a colour scheme for your website, it’s important to avoid obscure colours that can be difficult to read. Stick to simple, neutral colours like black, white, and shades of grey to create a clean and professional look.
Studies show that people prefer to look at websites with a lighter background and darker text, but having an option for dark mode is also a good idea. Choosing the right colour scheme is also very important to make sure your website is accessible, and Google will actually punish your rankings if fail to acknowledge this.
A couple of great resources to help you choose a great colour palette for your site design are Coolors and ColorSpace. With these, you simply input one of your chosen colours, and the algorithm will pull out some perfect complementary colours you can use elsewhere on your site.
Experiment with different colours, but try not to go overboard. Sometimes the simplest of designs are the most effective.
Conclusion
Website design is an art. Website designers have to balance the needs of both users and search engines, which can be difficult because they are very different animals. For instance, a user may want more white space on their page so it’s easier for them to read while Google wants you to pack your site with keywords that will help rank your website higher in SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages). Website design mistakes happen all too often when people don’t understand how important these two things are. In this blog post we’ve discussed five common website design mistakes: using too many fonts, not enough white space, overcrowding pages with images and text, choosing obscure colours over easy-to-read ones like black or blue and not following a grid system.
If you’re looking to improve the look of your website, just keep these things in mind!