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The design choices you make for your website have a major impact on its user experience and functionality, even for site visitors with no design knowledge. For distracted web browsers who want quick answers, a strong first impression is key.
An effective web design often goes unnoticed because a well-designed website is easy to use and understand. But intentional design choices make that ease possible.
We’ve identified 10 key design principles to follow so you can build a beautiful, user-friendly website with confidence. For visual examples, download the full guide to our top web design principles.
1. Organize copy by importance
One of the goals of any website design is to share information with your site visitor. You can signal which information is most important for visitors with clear typography and type hierarchy.
That means your website copy should have clear titles, section headings, and body text. As a guideline, start by trying to keep fonts and typeface styles to under four per web page.
Make sure you apply titles and headings in a way that makes sense for your content. Consider the way this blog article is styled as an example. The type uses size and font style to signal the hierarchy of the information on the page, from its title to the top takeaways and the body content.
Clearly organizing your website content makes it easier for visitors to read and navigate your site. It also makes it easier for search engines to understand your site structure, which can boost your SEO and search rankings.
See our guide to writing website copy
2. Choose colors for visual balance, contrast, and tone
Color palette is one of the best tools for setting the tone and energy of your website. To choose a range of colors to start with, think about how you want your brand or business to make customers feel.
If you want people to feel energized, try bright, bold colors. If you want a soothing energy, look for more muted colors. Then, consistently apply that color scheme across your site to create a cohesive look. Use contrasting colors to make important elements pop and mix and match colors for a balanced look.
Every color comes in varying shades, so make sure to look at all of your options and try different combinations before taking any one color out of the running.
Get tips for choosing colors, fonts, and icons for your website
3. Lead users’ eyes with your layout
Think of your page layouts and composition as a path you’re laying for your website visitors. That path should ultimately lead them to take an action, whether that’s clicking to another page on your website or taking an action on the same page.
Our eyes tend to scan left to right and top to bottom, in a “Z” or “F” shape. Keep that in mind as you place different sections in your site design. For example, it makes sense to put your business name and mission in a visible part toward the top of your homepage, then balance it with information and photos about what you offer further down the page.
Use the layout in combination with sizing and colors to make the most important points on any page stand out.
See some best practices for designing page layouts
4. Use negative space to make content stand out
Negative space, also called white space, is a blank area intentionally left between content on your website. Negative space is another way to create a visual hierarchy for the information on your site. It also makes for a more pleasant, less overwhelming browsing experience.
For example, squeezing a bunch of text into one part of a page can make it hard to read. It also makes it hard to figure out what the most important part of the text is, and a viewer is likely to skim past it or simply ignore it. Adding visual breaks between your content can help you isolate a key selling point or headers.
You don’t have to be a professional designer to figure out how to place negative space. Squarespace’s Fluid Engine editor has a grid that helps you visualize spacing between your page sections. Preview your web page and think about how you’d navigate it as a new user. Your instincts will probably tell you if there are readability issues or if something needs more room to breathe.
See tips for designing landing pages
5. Make your website work on any device
Almost half of web traffic in the U.S. alone comes from a mobile device. That means a good web design has to adapt to different screen sizes and devices to be truly effective.
Most website builders have this adaptability built into their design system. For example, Squarespace websites have a responsive design, which means they automatically adjust the type size and content to a smaller or narrower screen.
Test your website’s mobile usability while you’re editing and before you launch. Your website editor should have a mobile preview mode or separate mobile editing. Before you go live, use the website on a phone and tablet to make sure the layout, type, and links all work and are organized in a way that makes sense.
Get our tips on mobile-first web design
6. Make your goals clear
Have a clear end goal in mind for your website visitors when building your site. Do you want someone to buy something from your ecommerce store? Schedule an appointment with you? Keep you in mind for a freelance opportunity?
That end goal is what your site design is leading visitors toward. After you lay out any background and proof points someone might need to know, their destination is a call to action (CTA).
A CTA can be a button, a form, or a simple link, usually written to inspire action. Examples include “Buy Now” or “Sign Up”. Differentiate your CTA design from the rest of the web page and place it under key information or visuals related to where the CTA will lead them. That’ll help the option stand out and guide visitors toward the main purpose of your web page.
Learn more about creating effective CTAs
7. Choose visuals that represent your purpose
Like your color palette, the visual elements you choose for your website should reflect your brand identity and support your site’s purpose. This includes everything from photos to icons and accents that divide page sections.
Images let you get more specific about what you tell your audience. While a muted, soft color palette might signal soothing energy, an image of someone meditating can communicate how you bring that specific energy to life in your brand or business.
Unless you’re selling products or sharing a portfolio, you can license high-quality stock imagery and use image effects to get your point across.
Learn how to choose photos for your website
8. Share the most important information upfront
Website designers often talk about putting information “above the fold.” The term comes from physical newspapers, where the most important stories are printed above where the paper folds in half. For a good website design, it means the most important parts of any web page are visible before someone needs to scroll down.
Common things to put above the fold are:
Business name and logo
Navigation menu
Page or article titles
New product or event announcements
Short summary about you or your business
Strongest portfolio piece
Test out the strength of your above-the-fold content by going to the important pages on your website. For each page, note down what information you can take away from the page without scrolling at all. Does each page grab your attention as soon as you click in and make you want to learn more or start scrolling?
Start by building a standout homepage
9. Make your website easy to navigate
Good navigation is necessary for a good website experience. Website visitors should always have a clear idea of where a link on your website will take them and how to get to where they want to go.
When a website has good navigation, you may not even think about it. But think about how it feels when you don’t know where to find what you’re looking for on a website—it’s frustrating, and users usually click away.
Keep your navigation design simple. Use direct language and don’t overcomplicate the design. Test your own website navigation by asking friends to navigate to a specific page or product, or put yourself in their shoes and try it out yourself.
Get tips for basic website navigation
10. Create a design that stands out
Like any creative outlet, once you know the rules, you can bend or break them to bring your unique vision to life.
A trustworthy brand or business looks professional, but a professional brand that stands out has a point of view. Keep all of these principles in mind as you plan your website design or redesign project. But don’t be afraid to play with different design elements and develop a distinct perspective and visual design for your needs.