Your website should be well designed and communicate quality and trust to your guests. But the fact is most people have a particular reason to visit your site. Often, they’re there to donate or find specific information. So, those fancy design elements intended to wow them can actually be frustrating, and you can lose their traffic.

From a usability and user experience perspective, clarity and simplicity is your best friend.

But simple doesn’t mean strategy or planning aren’t involved in design. On the contrary, many elements are employed in this principle, including the below.

Colors

Just as you strategically place images and other elements in visual design, your color choices should optimize your users’ experience and provide high visibility.

The rule of thumb is to use a maximum of five and a minimum of two colors. A good start is two primary colors with a third accent color (usually to highlight CTA buttons or important text).

Typefaces

The typefaces you choose should be highly legible, so nothing too artsy and avoid script fonts. Again, keep it minimal for text color and always make sure it contrasts with the background color.

Imagery and Illustration

The human eye is extremely sensitive to even the slightest blemish or pixelation, so always use high-resolution images. They convey quality and help the viewer trust what you present to them.

Illustrations should convey the tone of your design and demographic. For example, financial firms may use bold geometric shapes. On the other hand, a zoo could be more whimsical, using cute animals.

Other Elements to Consider

• Size – Users quickly notice larger elements.
• Contrast – Contrasting colors catch the eye.
• Alignment – Out-of-alignment elements stand out over aligned ones.
• Repetition – Repeating styles can suggest content is related.
• Proximity – Closely placed elements seem related.
• Whitespace – More space around elements draws the eye towards them.
• Texture and Style – Richer textures stand out over flat ones.

Remember, these are just guidelines—design constantly evolves, and there are always exceptions to the rules.

Want to know the way users typically read your site? Stay tuned for part two, where we’ll discuss user scanning patterns.