Want to take your website design from good to great? Sweet! (I thought so!) Now go grab a magnifying glass and take a close look at some of your favorite websites. Chances are the things that make a site great are all those little details that you might not notice at first glance. Use these 10 design tips help you take your site to the next level!
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Web design can get boxy with all this div div div business going on. One way to add interest is to make a visual element appear to extend outside a box or region of the page. Apple does this on the iPod classic section of their website.
http://www.apple.com/ipodclassic/
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Another way to break out of the boxyness of web design is to integrate some organic elements into your site design. Organic (the design firm) does a good job of integrating rounded shapes into a grid based design.
http://www.organic.com/
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Lets face it – flat design is boring! You can easily add dimension to your site by using gradients and contrasting lines. Envato does a good job of adding dimension to their sites without going overboard. They utilize 1px contrast lines and subtle gradients to make things pop.
http://envato.com
Emphasis & Hierarchy: Make The
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Hierarchy and emphasis demand attention and direct users to content. Your header tags should be sized according to importance. Huge Inc does a great job of adding emphasis and re-enforcing hierarchy within their site. Your eye immediately goes to the huge headline BOO-YAH text at the top of the page.
http://hugeinc.com
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The concept of a bleed is carried over from print design and simply means to make the image extend to the edge of the page or border in our case. Bleeds give a sense of dimension and add visual interest. Apple does a great job of this on their ipod section of their website.
http://www.apple.com/
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Using a grid adds order and structure to your design. A grid does not necessarily have to be a visible design element, although it is nice to see the bones of a website sometimes. Arc90′s site has a grid structure that is neat, clean, and organized.
http://lab.arc90.com/
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Having a great background image for your site is something that will add visual intrest, but not distract from the main content. The Styleshout Urban Artist template has a nice subtle wood background that adds color and contrast, but does not distract from the content.
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Since the web is a dynamic medium we might as well take advantage of it! Subtle animation is a great way to add impact to a website without being obnoxious. There are several java script libraries that make it easy to add simple animation to a website. CSS Tricks has some nice subtle jquery color fading going on in the navigation.
http://css-tricks.com
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Branding should not be limited to the logo on your website. Your brand should influence your typography, image, and design choices. Pattern Tap does a great job of extending their brand by repeating an element of their logo in the category image thumbnails.
http://patterntap.com/
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Icons are a great way to attract attention and to inform your visitors on what they are about to click on. External link icons, or icons for specific file types (.pdf .doc .xls ) are a good way to cue your visitors in on what they are about to get themselves into.
Break The Plane: Think Outside The Box
Web design can get boxy with all this div div div business going on. One way to add interest is to make a visual element appear to extend outside a box or region of the page. Apple does this on the iPod classic section of their website.
http://www.apple.com/ipodclassic/
Go Organic
Another way to break out of the boxyness of web design is to integrate some organic elements into your site design. Organic (the design firm) does a good job of integrating rounded shapes into a grid based design.
http://www.organic.com/
Add Dimension: Make it Pop!
Lets face it – flat design is boring! You can easily add dimension to your site by using gradients and contrasting lines. Envato does a good job of adding dimension to their sites without going overboard. They utilize 1px contrast lines and subtle gradients to make things pop.
http://envato.com
Emphasis & Hierarchy: Make The Logo Headlines Bigger!
Hierarchy and emphasis demand attention and direct users to content. Your header tags should be sized according to importance. Huge Inc does a great job of adding emphasis and re-enforcing hierarchy within their site. Your eye immediately goes to the huge headline BOO-YAH text at the top of the page.
http://hugeinc.com
Make It Bleed!
The concept of a bleed is carried over from print design and simply means to make the image extend to the edge of the page or border in our case. Bleeds give a sense of dimension and add visual interest. Apple does a great job of this on their ipod section of their website.
http://www.apple.com/
Use A Grid
Using a grid adds order and structure to your design. A grid does not necessarily have to be a visible design element, although it is nice to see the bones of a website sometimes. Arc90′s site has a grid structure that is neat, clean, and organized.
http://lab.arc90.com/
Background Images
Having a great background image for your site is something that will add visual intrest, but not distract from the main content. The Styleshout Urban Artist template has a nice subtle wood background that adds color and contrast, but does not distract from the content.
Make It Move!
Since the web is a dynamic medium we might as well take advantage of it! Subtle animation is a great way to add impact to a website without being obnoxious. There are several java script libraries that make it easy to add simple animation to a website. CSS Tricks has some nice subtle jquery color fading going on in the navigation.
http://css-tricks.com
Branding
Branding should not be limited to the logo on your website. Your brand should influence your typography, image, and design choices. Pattern Tap does a great job of extending their brand by repeating an element of their logo in the category image thumbnails.
http://patterntap.com/
Icons, Icon, Icons
Icons are a great way to attract attention and to inform your visitors on what they are about to click on. External link icons, or icons for specific file types (.pdf .doc .xls ) are a good way to cue your visitors in on what they are about to get themselves into.
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