5 Ways to Keep Your Design Fresh
Every day I am shocked to find people still paying for or designing sites that look like they have time warped out of 1995 into the present. I guess I can’t stop anyone from designing in this manner but I hope I can persuade people to not pay for an outdated product like this. There is a lot that goes into a design and there will be minutia that changes from client to client but I have noted below 5 ways that are universal for every design.
Color Scheme
This is where I usually start when designing from scratch or creating a solution for a client’s redesign. It is amazing what color can do positively and negatively. Every site should have a color scheme that matches the topic of the site. For example, if you are designing for a hospital you aren’t going to have a black and red color combo. You are going to have a lot of white and possibly a clinical blue or green to accompany. If you don’t feel confident in your ability to choose colors that compliment each other then let others come up with color schemes for you. There are two great online resources for choosing schemes at Colourlovers and Kuler.
Remove Clutter
I like to think of this like cleaning the house. When the dishes need to be done, your clothes are all over your floor and you have a week’s worth of beer bottles on the counter you start to feel bogged down and your house becomes less likable. This is the same with a web layout. If you have a cluttered site and people can’t figure out how to do anything or get to the information or service they want they will move on very swiftly to the next Google result. If you remove the clutter and make your content more concise and use space more effectively you will have a welcoming web environment and will please the site’s visitors.
Visual Metaphor
I firmly believe in a strong visual metaphor. The look of your site creates the first impression. The old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is derived from human nature. People are attracted to things that look nice and, more specifically on the internet, that are going to let them know that they have arrived on a site that has the information they are searching for. If you have a website that is about organic living then utilize imagery of natural looking farms, people and food. This may sound obvious but if you spend time on the internet you will see that not everyone gets visual metaphor.
Spice up Subheads
Subheads can often be like the middle child in a family (no offense to any middle children out there). They get that syndrome where they feel forgotten and over looked. Subheads are important. They break up a page so it doesn’t seem like the content runs on forever. There are graphical solutions or CSS solutions as simple as creating a dashed line bottom border under an H2. Regardless of what solution you choose don’t forget the details of your design because things like subheads will be left out and your site will suffer.
Build on Current Trends
Web design is art. Art is inspired. New trends don’t just emerge out of thin air into existence; they evolve ever time. Don’t be afraid to notice current trends and implement them into your own designs. This is especially important on the internet when dealing with clients. They see what someone else has on their site and say “I want that!” This is your opportunity to build on what others have done and make it your own. Quentin Tarantino has created much controversy in the film world because of how heavily he uses past trends, but there is no mistaking a Tarantino film with another director, he has built on what others have done and made it his own. This practice is necessary and without it design would get stale and stagnant, which is why some people’s websites look like they do.
