Helpful Design Tips

Sometimes, when creating web design is part of your everyday routine, you find yourself running out of ideas, and everything either starts to look the same, or all your ideas start to sound awful to you. It’s important to not give up and understand that this is only happening to you because you are a conscientious designer who cares a great deal about whether or not your work is on par. If you didn’t strive to serve your best work, you wouldn’t be stuck in a rut. So remember that you aren’t terrible, and that you are not alone. To help you out, we’ve put together a few design tips you should always keep in mind when creating a new project:

Function Over Form

Don’t get too obsessed with how the website looks, and go on adding extra plugins, banners, and images that aren’t needed. Though the layout and aesthetic aspect of the web design is very important, it is not more important than how the site functions. By adding unnecessary loading time to your design, you may be turning away visitors.

Go for simple designs that are easy to navigate and user-friendly. That doesn’t mean dulling it down, just that you shouldn’t go over the top with your form, and forget about the function. Think from a visitor’s perspective; what are they looking for when they visit the site? With that approach in mind, you are sure to create a website that serves its purpose in a beautiful and efficient way.

Colors

The study of color psychology believes that colors can determine human behavior and responses. Certain brands, when designing their logos, stick to certain colors that draw out certain responses; so it’s not just a coincidence that Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Skype, and Google, all incorporate the color blue into their logos and sites. Blue usually represents integrity, professionalism, and reliability. While other sites like Grooveshark, SoundCloud, and Blogspot incorporate orange in, because orange usually represents innovation and creativity.

None of this is concrete, though there have been research studies conducted to verify these ideas. Nonetheless, it’s worth investigating and testing this knowledge in when you start a new design.

Inspiration

When you can’t come up with anything, it always helps to look around and turn to other people’s work for inspiration. There are some great sites out there specifically for design inspiration, as well Tumblr blogs, and Pinterest boards to help spark your imagination. Don’t let your own negativity keep you from doing the best work you can, and always motivate yourself by looking at what other creative and brilliant minds are producing. Even the best of us find ourselves stuck, and the stagnancy invites our fears and pessimism to come and cloud our judgments, but we are in charge of how we approach our work. Always choose inspiration, and help yourself visualize your design.

Keep these tips in mind and turn to them whenever you can’t come up with something new; hopefully, they will trigger a change in your designing process and help you create something truly innovative and new.