A strong online presence is something every business or entrepreneur needs. You can hardly do without an Instagram or LinkedIn account, and you certainly can’t do without a professional website.
But what exactly is behind those aesthetic websites you visit? The answer is “web design. But what exactly is web design? It is much more than just picking and putting together pretty colors and pictures.
It’s really about creating an online world that leaves an impression on the visitor.
In this article, we explore the question “what is web design?”, the different types and components of web design and the trends of the upcoming year. Read on quickly!
What exactly is web design and why is it important?
So, what is web design? Web design is the creation and design of all the visual and functional components of a website. It is a combination of usability, functionality and technology. And of course, the eye wants something too! A good UX/UI web designer brings elements like color, typography and graphics together to make it a beautiful and functioning website.
Strong web design is hugely important. After all, your website is where potential customers first discover your service or product. It is then crucial to ensure that you make a good first impression.
A website that loads quickly, is easy to navigate, is well designed and also looks good is much more likely to leave a good first impression than one that does not have these features. Visitors immediately find you as an entrepreneur or company a lot more credible when you have a professional website than when you don’t.
So Web design is more than important!
The main components of web design
So, is web design making a beautiful website? Partly. Yes, aesthetics are very important when designing a website, but it’s not everything.
To answer the question, “What is web design?” we must not only look at the design. Your site will not be successful until it is also functional and user-friendly. These, along with aesthetics, are the most important parts of web design. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Usability
Usability is really the basis of good web design. What do we mean by this? A website focuses on the user experience when it is easy to navigate so that visitors can quickly find what they are looking for. Through clear structures, logical menus, visible buttons and simple instructions, you can improve the navigation of your website.
Another important part of the user experience is the mobile-friendliness and accessibility of your site. When your website meets these requirements, you increase the chances that people with disabilities or people visiting your website on mobile will have a good experience.
It’s really important to make the usability of your website or online store your number one priority. If people visit your website and find that it is difficult to navigate, not optimized for their smartphone or simply not accessible, they will leave your site as quickly as they came onto it.
Functionality
Your website should not only be user-friendly, it should also work! So, it’s important to make sure that all the links, buttons and forms work. Users should not experience any errors or technical problems. If they do, their trust in you will drop significantly.
Make sure your website loads quickly and that integration with other systems (such as e-commerce platforms or CRMs) works properly.
So the website must perform. Everything must run smoothly so that your visitors can reach their goals without any effort. Want to know more about the different functional components of web design? Then scroll on quickly.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a hugely important part of web design. It’s the part you see first. The first impression. The web design should not only be beautiful, but it should also fit perfectly with your brand’s identity and goals.
The use of colors, typography, images and layout all contribute to the way your website comes across. Are you curious about these visual elements of web design? Don’t worry, we’ll go into more detail here in a moment!
The ultimate challenge in web design is finding a balance between usability, functionality and aesthetics.
The different types of web design
What is web design? The answer to this question is enormously broad. Like anything else, web design comes in many different shapes, styles, sizes and flavors. The type of design depends on you and your target audience. What story do you want to tell? What product or service do you want to introduce your target audience to, and who is your target audience anyway?
Based on the answers to these questions, you can choose a type of web design.
What is a one pager?
A one pager is a complete website consisting of a single page. This page contains all the important information and content you want to share with your target audience. This type of web design is perfect for anyone looking for a simple website or those business owners who want to showcase a limited number of products or talk about a smaller number of topics.
Most one pagers make generous use of anchor links, allowing users to quickly and easily scroll to different sections on the page. A one pager is often characterized by its minimalist design, where creating overview was the focus during the design process.
What is static web design?
A static web design consists of fixed HTML pages that are pre-programmed and displayed to the user without changing the content. All pages on a static website or web shop are developed separately from each other and contain the same layout. This ensures that the content is consistent and not automatically customizable. Static websites generally load faster and are a lot easier to build than dynamic sites, but are a lot less flexible when adjustments are needed.
What is dynamic web design?
A dynamic web design, the content of the website is automatically generated based on various factors, such as user behavior. These types of websites are often connected to a database or Content Management System such as WordPress. Many website owners prefer dynamic web design because they can easily make changes to their website’s content without any technical knowledge! Dynamic web design is perfect for larger businesses, news websites or e-commerce platforms that need updates every so often.
What is a responsive website?
A responsive web design automatically adapts to the size of different screens. Thus, it does not matter whether a user visits your website via their laptop, tablet or smartphone. The layout and different elements of the website rearrange themselves to ensure the best display in this way.
Responsive web design is super important today for the usability of a site. And not only do visitors like it, search engines can appreciate it too!
What is a liquid design?
Liquid web design is very similar to responsive web design in that both types of designs adapt to different screen sizes. Liquid design scales the website content with the width of the screen on which your website is delivered. The proportions remain the same, but the dimensions change depending on the screen size. So texts and images can become wider or narrower.
Our preference is still for responsive design because liquid design can sometimes cause problems if the screen is very narrow or wide. This is because the content can be displayed too big or too small. Not too good for the user experience.
What is a fixed design?
A fixed design is actually not at all contemporary, because this type of design has a fixed width. Therefore, the website will always look the same regardless of the size of the screen. A fixed design can look great on a laptop, but terrible on a phone screen. So we do not recommend the use of a fixed design!
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Functional components of web design
As we mentioned earlier, it is important that your Web site functions properly. There are a number of components that play a major role in this. We’re talking about navigation, the speed of your website, text readability, accessibility and layout. Let’s dive a little deeper into each of these functional components.
Navigation
A one pager consists of one page, but in most cases a website or web shop consists of several pages. To move between these different pages, it is important that the navigation be easy to use.
Good navigation should ensure that your website visitors can move easily from page A to page B. Of course, you want them to be able to find what they are looking for, don’t you? How can you do this? By adding a navigation menu. A well-designed menu ensures that visitors can easily find their way around.
There are many different types of menus. These are our favorites:
- Classic navigation menu
This type of menu is the most popular. The horizontal navigation structure is displayed as a list at the top of the page. - Hamburger menu
You probably recognize the three dashes (bun, burger, bun). When you click these, the menu opens. This type of navigation menu is commonly used on mobile websites. - Stick menu
This menu is similar to the classic navigation menu, but scrolls down with you. - Dropdown menu
This menu is also called the drop-down menu. After a visitor clicks on an item on your menu, a list of additional options appears. - Sidebar menu
You recognize this menu as a list of options on the left or right side of a web page.
Loading speed
Did you know that 38% of your visitors will leave your website if they have to wait longer than 3 seconds for your page to load? Well, you do realize how important it is for your website to load quickly.
There are many different factors that play a role in the speed of your site. Consider, for example, the amount of code and images. Fortunately, there are several tools such as GTmetrix that can measure the speed of your website and tell you how to make it load faster.
Readability
A strong web design makes it easy for visitors to understand the content of the page. And the issue here is not so much what the text says exactly, but its readability. So it’s about the font and font size, but also the length of paragraphs, the use of enough white space and the contrast between the text and the background.
Accessibility
Accessibility is a trend that has become increasingly important in the world of web design. But what exactly does it entail? Well, it is important for a web designer to be aware of the capabilities of all possible website visitors. Consider, for example, people who are blind, deaf or color-blind, as well as those visitors with dyslexia or cognitive disabilities.
A Web designer can take this into account by adding alt text, contrasts and keeping keyboard navigation in mind. Taking accessibility into account is not only important for the user experience, but you also meet general guidelines by doing so.
Layout and white spaces
Layout and white space are essential to web design. White spaces are the areas on a Web site that are left empty between elements (such as blocks of text or images). These blank spaces make it a little easier for the user to focus on the information and provide breathing room, literally and figuratively.
White space combined with a beautiful and orderly layout creates an uncluttered, calm and aesthetic look.
Visual elements of web design
What is web design? We now know that usability and functionality are important to answer this question, but this blog is incomplete if we do not discuss the aesthetic and visual part.
The way a website or webshop looks determines the first impression you leave as a brand. The visual elements we will discuss are the following: the header and footer, color scheme, typography, background, and images and animations. Let’s take a look.
Header
The header is the top part of the website and often serves as the first point of contact for visitors to your page. In most cases, the header contains your logo, the navigation bar and sometimes a search bar or Call-to-Action button. A well-designed header is not too busy, but provides a clear and direct view of the website and makes it easy for users to navigate.
Footer
Where the header is at the top of the page, you can find the footer at the bottom of a website. This is often the last thing visitors see, making it the ideal place to reiterate all the important information clearly in front of them.
A well-designed footer is uncluttered and functional. A simple footer is preferred, without too much fuss. Add only the necessary information and provide enough white space.
Color Scheme
Color is pretty much the basis of the visual part of your site’s design. The color scheme you choose should match your business and convey the mood you are aiming for.
Colors have a tremendously strong influence on human emotions. So it is important that you take the time to put together your color scheme. When you are aware of the different psychological effects of colors, you can make a wise decision! So useful to take some time to learn about color psychology!
Typography
Like color, typography is an important part of your company’s corporate identity. The choice you make regarding fonts affects how readable the content of your website is. In addition, make sure that there is enough contrast between your fonts and the background of your website. Moreover, it is important that the typography not only works for your website on a laptop, but also when displayed on a phone screen.
The background
The background of your website. Have you ever thought about that? For many it’s an afterthought, but the background is an important visual element.
Your site’s background can be a color, image or pattern. A good background adds to the content without being distracting.
Images and animations
Images really complete your website. They can contribute to the aesthetics of your site, as well as the message of your brand. Whether they are photos, icons or illustrations, always ask yourself if the images fit the style and content of your website.
The same, of course, applies to dynamic animations. These should be used subtly. An abundance of animations can quickly become distracting or contribute to a sluggish Web site.
Keep usability in mind when using images and animations. This is number one, remember!
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Web design vs. web development
What is web design and is it the same as web development? The two terms are often used interchangeably and many people have the idea that they are synonyms, but nothing could be further from the truth.
As you have learned, web design focuses on the functional, user-friendly and aesthetic side of a website. A web designer’s ultimate goal is to create a beautiful and intuitive interface in which users can easily navigate.
What is web development?
In this blog, we focused on the question “What is web design?”, but what exactly is web development? And how is it different from web design?
Web development is all about the technical side of a Web site. It is really about building a design conceived and worked out by a web designer. A web developer is concerned with coding and programming a website. Here a distinction can be made between the back-end and the front-end.
Front-end development deals with building the visible parts of the website. Think of the buttons, the texts and the images. Back-end developers deal with the database and the servers. The things we don’t see, but which are hugely important.
Web design for your business
After reading this blog, you must be wondering if web design is important for your business. The answer to this is “Absolutely. As a business owner, you want to stand out, you want to captivate your audience and leave a positive impression on them. A well-designed website can really make the difference between a visitor becoming a customer or a visitor leaving your website within seconds.
So, whether you need an entirely new website or simply want to revamp your current one, at Gaia Digital we do it all. Whether you’re a startup with growth ambitions or an established business looking to strengthen its online presence, we’ll create a custom website for you that moves you forward.
We don’t just deliver a product; Gaia Digital helps build your success.
