Today, no site can be created without web design. While that is technically true, some sites are so awful that they might as well have been created without the knowledge of web design. If you want to be a designer, you should know some simple rules which can be applicable in almost every type of site.

Be as Simple as Possible

The principle of less is more is very important in web design. If you create a site which is bloated with who knows how many banners, shiny advertisements or plainly put, unnecessary content, you will turn many potential customers and visitors away.

On the other hand, a site with a simplistic design is often easy to navigate, although that is not always the case. Your design should be intuitive and easy to use. A visitor does not need to have skills of a designer and programmer to be able to navigate a site.

The Design is Important

While this may seem obvious, many people take the simplistic part far too literally and end up with a home page full of bland colors, resembling socialist concrete skyscrapers. Yes, there are some beautiful concrete skyscrapers from that period, like there are some ridiculously simple, yet esthetic sites, but you should still pay attention to the design.

Your home page, your entire site, is a web presentation, something which you use to communicate to your visitors and customers, think of it as an outfit. Wearing the wrong outfit can easily give the wrong impression.

Be Consistent

Every page should be as similar as possible to the previous one, providing users with a familiar interface. When you know what to expect from a site, just by looking at the home page, you can navigate it without so much as giving navigation a second thought. That is an indicator of a well-designed site.

Learn to Code

If you are just a designer, you might end up with some problems under the hood, which might not be solved as fast, and will likely end up costing you money. Learn at least HTML and CSS so that you can do everything design-related on your own, without the need for a developer. If you want to take it further, you can end up customizing the minute details of your site, yet that is a completely different story.

Web design requires you to be consistent and to stick to a single design, at least on one site. You should make it easy to use, navigate and yet remain artistic, or at least, related to the site’s purpose. Other than that, you are free to add flair to your site as you see fit.