How many times have you bookmarked an excellent website that was well-designed? It wasn’t because the graphical design or the user interface was particularly impressive; rather, it was because there was something distinctive about the way things worked.
A large amount of skill, expertise, and experience is undoubtedly required to produce outstanding web design work. There are a great number of books and articles available on this subject; nonetheless, it is very beneficial to hear personal accounts from industry experts.
Because of this, we have made the decision to share some of that sweetness with you this time. To do so, we conducted an interview with three of the most talented web designers in the industry and posed the same question to all of them: “What is the single most important quality of a perfectly designed website?” This is what those people had to say about the matter.
Excellent Website Designer 1: Mehedi Hasan
Mehedi is an art director located in San Francisco. He has seven years of experience working for several agencies and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in New Media from the Academy of Art. Now that he has his own design company, DsgnStory, he is able to do very high-quality work in the field of web design.
This is what he had to say to us:
Connecting the user to the information that they have come to the website to receive is the most important feature of a website that has been professionally built. You may be certain that you have made sound design choices if your design is user-friendly, meaning that it is easy to browse, and it keeps the user’s attention.
This does not indicate that you should always use the same format, but rather that you should take into consideration the purpose of your project as well as the audience that you are trying to reach.
I particularly love how Mehedi mentioned “using the same standard layout every time,” which is an issue that I see much too often.
You know how every site on the internet has a giant image or a carousel at the top, followed by three to four parts that are much smaller? This does not happen very often on Mehedi’s web pages.
Excellent Website Designer 2: Adam Dannaway
Adham is a Sydney-based designer with an established track record of producing just stunning web design and UI work. Smashing Magazine, Web Designer Magazine, and Abduzeedo have all highlighted his work in their top websites and publications.
What he had to say to the DsgnStory web design community was as follows:
First and foremost, I don’t believe there is such a thing as a perfectly designed website; instead, let us strive for a “well designed” website.” The most crucial aspect of a well-designed website, in my view, is that it achieves its objective or function.
For example, if the goal of a website is to sell soccer balls, it should first and foremost allow people to buy soccer balls as easily and as quickly as possible. Sure, it would be fantastic if the website looked amazing as well, but it must first perform properly. Most websites and apps are designed to answer a specific issue.
It doesn’t really matter how beautiful the design is if the website fails to solve the problem at hand.” First and foremost, ensure that the site serves its goal. Test it on a large number of people, get feedback, and iterate from there. You may not do it perfectly the first time, but if you continue, you will eventually get it right.
It’s worth noting how Adam prioritizes site functionality above aesthetics. This is also a typical error – I’ve developed sites that looked beautiful but lacked intuitiveness, simplicity of use, or even a big enough font for people to read. Form – or visual design – should always come after function, not the other way around.
Excellent Website Designer 3: Pat Johnson
Pat’s website designs have received 10 AAF Awards in the last five years, which would be impressive in and of itself if not for the exceptional work in his portfolio. He also gives back to the design community by providing a list of freebies on his website.
When I asked him what makes a fantastic website, this is what he said:
A website design should be clean and simple so that users can quickly find what they are looking for.” This isn’t to say you shouldn’t utilize enormous photographs and graphics (I recommend it) – you just have to be daring to stand out.
It just needs to be done tastefully and uncluttered — use whitespace, good typography, and be subtle with rounded corners and drop shadows.” The “fold” is obsolete; lengthy, responsive webpages are the current trend.
Pats’ response has two essential nuggets: keeping webpages clean and uncluttered and forgetting about the old-school spaces above and below the fold.
Cleanliness and whitespace are critical in web design since there is always a lot of information to convey without overwhelming the user. Giving the eyes plenty of resting spots and presenting information in little bits rather than massive blocks of the stuff is always the best way to proceed.
What is ideal for you?
I’d like to thank Mehedi, Adham, and Pat for contributing to this article and helping the DsgnStory online community benefit from their significant expertise.