PRINCIPLES OF GOOD DESIGN
The design of a website must serve the needs and expectations of its target audience. We believe the key to a successful site is in the concepts of Balance and Simplicity. If your clients cannot easily find the product, service, or information they need in a very short amount of time, they will likely click to another site and never look back.
Everyone has their own opinion on what makes a good website. However, some things are clearly beneficial while others are obvious hazards to be avoided. Below is a list of what we consider to be essential design concepts:
general
- Include at least one primary focal point.
- Not include too many focal points.
- Colors fall within a defined color scheme.
- Not more than one moving element (animated gif, flash, scrolling, fading, etc).
- Backgrounds of solid color or very simple, subtle patterns.
- Does not require sideways scrolling to view entire page.
- Pages load quickly and are consistently viewable across multiple browsers and screen resolutions.
- Elements within the page are not crowded or too sparse.
- Avoid pointless add-ons (visible counters, clocks, mouse trails, pop-ups, etc).
navigation
- Menu(s) which are easy to find and use.
- Logical page names which meet user expectations (Home, About Us, Contact)
- Consistent location across all pages.
- Clear definition between internal and external links.
text
- Appropriate font size and type.
- Colors compliment one another and are easy to read.
- Colors, fonts, and format consistent throughout all pages of the site.
links
- Link colors are clear to users and consistent on all pages.
- User can clearly differentiate between an external and internal link.
- Embedded documents include icon to identify type (word, pdf, xls, etc).
images
- All images include alt and title attributes.
- Large enough to view, small enough to load quickly.
- Placed an appropriate distance from text.
content
- Content which is meaningful to your audience.
- 'Action oriented' lay-out.
- Simple, concise content with access to further details made readily available.
