Great artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, who designed the all-time famous Mona Lisa, and Jeff Koon's Balloon Dog, are exemplary in combining the art of color, shape, value, texture, form, and space. Such artists effectively used their skills to convey the desired intention by designing masterpieces. The ability to integrate such elements of combination remains relevant to the web designers in the modern-day era.
When creating a great website, you need to pay a lot of attention to the visual appeal of all the pages on your site. A great visual composition is appealing to the user's eyes, and it is also significant in facilitating the navigation, user retention, and higher conversion rates in your business site. Therefore, when designing a website, you need to highly consider such principles as balance, emphasis, movement, and many more aspects that are elaborated below.
BALANCE
Finding the perfect balance of your website is the key to better results from your website. Balance simply means that all the elements in your website are correctly proportioned and that no feature overpowers another. If the items are not proportional, some things will be moved to the background, hence serve less or no role. Balancing is categorized into three groups:
Symmetrical: The mathematical line of symmetry; that is, one side of the website is a complete replica of the other side. Symmetry creates a lot of beauty not only in the physical world but also in the field of web design. Symmetry brings a feeling of class, and consistency.
Asymmetrical: This means that the elements are not the same on both sides of the websites. However, they appear to possess the same weight. For instance, you may put one vital item on one side and many less essential items on one side. Asymmetry in website design signifies modernism and vigor.
Radial: Radial balance portrays a visual appearance that everything is focused around a central focal point. Just like a funnel, everything that is on the website or added to it will seem to follow towards a central location. Besides, some components are strategically located away from this focal point. Just like the universe, radial balance showcases dynamism and life.
To effectively apply these balancing styles:
Find the central point of your website and keep the weight of the components evenly distributed on all sides. Consider the magnitude of every element that you put, including a photo, text, or even a button. Note that every item that you add to the site has the potential to change the balance of your website. If you want to keep a clear track of the balance of your items, use a grid layout of the website.
To achieve a grid layout, start by dividing your homepage and all the other pages horizontally using stripes. Use one line per section, such as in the header, 'About Us, contact, social media section, etc. Then, split the strips using vertical partitions to create columns. Thus, your page will have boxes with different components. Assess the position of each element and professionally redesign your content.
CONTRAST
Contrast does not only mean the use of a great color combination but also the proper usage of shapes. Also, it involves the application of smooth and rough texture, negative and positive space, and virtually everything that is naturally opposite of the other. A high contrast attracts the viewer's attention. The distinction is essential in creating masterpieces not only in web design but also in the products and services in your brand.
Application:
Avoid monotonous shapes, dull colors, and boring textures. Find a way to play around with these elements to add a 'pop' to your website. A compelling contrast has the ability to keep your viewers' glued to the site as it is stimulating. Creating a good contrast requires careful consideration. Do not just make everything 'pop' without thinking about which specific items to accentuate. You can decide to emphasize your name, contact information, social links, brand name, or a link on your homepage. Carefully improve the look of particular items by using the correct fonts, texts, shapes, spacing, and color.
Remember that the most expressive element in web design is color. Use color contrast efficiently throughout the pages. You may, for instance, go for the conventional black or white background and give some color to the vital elements on your webpage.
EMPHASIS
Emphasis suggests that a specific element appears more dominant than the others. This is obtained through the proper application of contrast alongside other features. The centrality of the focal point, as it is in radial symmetry, is significant in creating emphasis. Most graphic designers recommend a central element that seems to have authority over all the other components to avoid competition.
Application of emphasis:
No matter how much we may try to obtain the correct balance and contrast, sometimes, not everything ends up assuming the same importance. Not everything serves the same purpose. Therefore, some parts will be more actionable and others more decorated. This sense of importance is significant in directing visitors to the most critical items. For instance, the Call-to-Action buttons should be emphasized more. Call to action buttons includes the 'Buy Me,' 'subscribe Here,' 'Book Now' etc. They are to be accentuated as they drive more traffic to the site.
In order to shine more light on the CTAs, use a proper font and color combination to make sure that they 'pop' out. Also, leave a more extensive white space around the CTAs to ensure that the visitors notice them quickly. You may also decide to pin them to the screen, so when the user scrolls down the website, the Call-to-Action button remains floating on the screen within the eye-sight of your visitors.
MOVEMENT
Moving objects are visually more appealing than a still object. A video or an animated feature will attract more viewers than a still image. There are significant animation effects that are applied to build strong website trends in the contemporary world. This is another feature of art that evokes a sense of appeal, and you can incorporate it to your site in no time using the latest technology tools.
Application:
Adding a video, an animation, or a subtle feature to your site is easy. You may apply a parallax scrolling technique that automatically divides your page into several stripes that move at different paces. Parallax scrolling makes a 3D illusion as the background moves slower than the foreground. To use parallax scrolling, you need to apply coding techniques that may demand effort and time. However, the venture is worthy as the visitors to your site will have a more engaging experience.
Besides, even without using sophisticated animations, you may achieve a sense of movement by aligning the elements in the right manner. For instance, you may tilt the text diagonally or even dynamically scatter the images to create a sense of rhythm. However, do not overuse the motion features as they may create 'visual noise' on your website.
REPETITION
Repeating a particular feature rhythmically creates a visual appeal. Also, repetition creates a sense of consistency, a factor that is essential in creating harmony in your site to boost brand identity.
Application:
You may repeat specific design features over and over. For instance, you may alternate the fonts and the colors rhythmically in various sections of the pages. An effective application of repetitive elements will make sure that visitors remember the look-and-feel of your website in the future or whenever they interact with the website again. This is a significant boost to your brand identity.
Remember not to use the features excessively to avoid monotony. Add a lot of visual breaks and white spaces for the visitors to distinguish between different sections quickly.
HIERARCHY AND PRIORITY
Just like in a company's leadership positions, hierarchy is essential to determine what to prioritize. Hierarchy splits various elements using their level of significance. For example, it may assume three levels: the most critical, middle products, and the least necessary stuff. The visitors on your website attach different levels of importance to the various products and services on your website. Stick to the convention that the items that are up on the hierarchy are the most important as they are the first to grab the visitors' attention. Take your time and design the hierarchy of your website using the level of importance of the various elements in your site.
Application:
To apply the principle of hierarchy effectively, list down a plan of your website design. You may also want to create a sitemap of all the items according to the level of their significance. Let the viewers see what is more significant first.
Most visitors view a page from the top left and then move right, then down. Therefore, ensure that the most important information goes to the top left side for full optimization and brand identity. The least essential information may go to the middle of the pages since that section is not scanned more often. The middle-level information can be scattered in the rest of the site.
Also, note that the footer of the page is very important, and it should contain prioritized details just like the header. You may consider prioritizing information such as who you are and what you do and let other elements such as testimonials stick to the middle or near the bottom.
UNITY
By looking at something, we can tell whether it has a sense of unity or not. Unity involves having the right combination and balance of the various elements in a site. Harmony is achieved by ensuring that all components are strategically placed and have a meaningful role in the respective spots. Let nothing be out of place or random. Unity is essential in ensuring that all elements are working together towards the same goal.
Application:
To convey the right message in a harmonious way, all the items therein must be in agreement with each other. Customize all the components of your website in a way that delivers a uniform and coherent message.
Let the visual message display the tone and the message of all the products and services. The logo, Google maps, Menus, Links, or the 'About Us' sections should express a unified visual appeal. Also, ensure that each element that you add in the future to the site is in harmony with the rest of the features.
However, do not limit your creative ideas by ensuring too much unity to the extent of doing away with super details. Have fun and play with a wide array of patterns, sizes, and colors. All will fit together when you invest more effort in the website design.
We hope that these 7 Webdesign Principles will help you to get a view on how to create a killer website. Do you still find it overwhelming? We can help you out as well! Contact our Knight Design team if you would need any help with your website design.