At Soulheart, we’re passionate about quality design. First impressions make all the difference – and creating a website that’s eye-catching and easy to use could be the difference between landing a great client and being passed over.
We’ve noticed three common design mistakes that come up on the web often. What surprises us about them is that they’re actually really easy fixes! If you notice yourself accidentally making one of these design mistakes, just remember that they’re easy to solve.
1. Too much copy
We’ve all seen the page that’s full of words – and that’s all it ever is to us because we see the words but don’t actually read them. There are instances when you should have lots of copy on a page (i.e. if you’re a blogger, words are your friend). However, when a webpage looks more like a page from a novel than from a modern company website, there’s a problem.
Too much copy distracts from your message. When a design has to balance a large number of words, it can become weighed down and lead to confusion on the user’s part – never something that you want.
The solution, however, is pretty easy: think about the exact, specific purpose of the copy on the specific webpage. If your purpose is two-fold (say, telling people about your company and then telling them about you, the founder), consider simply creating two separate pages. If you have too much copy on your homepage, then think about creating an “about us” page that goes into detail, and keeping the homepage as direct and simple as possible.
2. Not enough white space
It can be tempting to try to fill in every space on a page with something unique and interesting. The result, though, can be a website that looks messy and disorganized instead of beautiful and interesting. If you’re not quite able to place your finger on what’s not working in a design, it’s often the case that you simply don’t have enough white space.
White space gives your mind time to relax. It offers a guide to your eye about the next thing to look at, and it can be a powerful measure of taste by revealing appropriate restraint. Tasteful use of white space can be challenging to achieve, but in general, it’s much better to have too much white space than not enough.
To fix this problem, simply start to inject white space into your design and remove unnecessary elements. If you don’t miss what you’ve just removed, then you know you’ve made the right decision!
3. Overdesign
We’ve all seen pictures of baroque cathedrals that overwhelm our eyes with enormous amounts of carvings, filigree, intense and emotional paintings, and usually intricate marble flooring. While this was the style of the time (in the 1600s, at least), we probably don’t want to create the same overwhelming feeling when people visit our websites.
Overdesigned websites have patterns and ornaments in every corner. They feel disorderly because they contain lots of different fonts and colors and pictures that don’t seem to have an underlying theme. When something is overdesigned, it’s easy to lose the branded look of a website.
When you want to check your designs for this, think about the purpose behind every element of your design. Consider how each fits within your idea of what the brand should look like. As you judge each element by itself, you will begin to develop a clear vision of what a well-balanced design looks like in your context.
Avoid these three design mistakes and you’ll be well on your way to creating quality design!
If your website could use a re-design or if you’re interested in creating something new, fill out our form and we’ll be excited to learn some more about your project!
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