Building a new website can be an overwhelming task, especially for new web designers. However, the biggest challenge normally lies in designing the site using the required web standards. One problem that is common among most web designers is forgetting that these sites are not created for their use only. Instead, their designs must focus on a positive user experience. In some cases, they deliver creativity over simple practicality and usability. Here are 3 common mistakes that new web designers make.
Mistake #1 – Over Crowded Pages
Everything including the kitchen sink is the theme that many new designers adhere to. Therefore, they design web pages that’s filled with too much information, which makes it is hard for users to read through. When following the appropriate web design standards, the new designers should include ‘white space’ or ‘negative space’ to make their pages easy to read. For instance, the designer should leave a sufficient amount of white space between individual lines, columns, sub elements and paragraphs.
White space is one solution to ensuring the page is not too busy or over crowded, but it is also important for the designer to limit what they place on a single page. As a general rule of thumb, several short pages with a little information are preferred to one long page packed with lots of unrelated data.
Mistake #2 – Unfriendly Navigation
Some users exit the site when they cannot determine how the navigation works. Unfortunately, this is one of the cardinal mistakes often made by new web designers. At one point there was a trend that promoted hiding the navigation. Instead of it being clearly seen by the user, the designers would integrate it into images as well as other types of content. Even though this was considered to be artistically creative, it was not user friendly and lacked functionality. Today, the web design standards promote making the navigation easy to find and simple to follow. Navigation should be so intuitive that anyone who accesses the site can follow.
Mistake # 3 – Choosing Harsh Colors
Everyone has a favorite color unless they have problems with distinguishing one color from another. While choosing an individual’s favorite color can be nice, it can be a fatal flaw in any web design project. The main goal is to choose a color that will elicit the response that the web designer is seeking. Choosing the right color involves knowing the target audience and what colors will work best for them. For instance, if the target audience is located in China, the designer may want to incorporate red into the design scheme because it represents good luck. However, if the target audience is in Germany, red should be excluded from the color options since it does not signify having good luck for them.
Designing a website is not a simple task to complete. With all of the web design standards and specifications, it is easy for the new web designer to miss the mark completely. Therefore, it is important for the new designer to study the latest strategies, techniques and standards if they want to deliver an effective web site to their clients.
Follow
