What is web design? This question has been a subject of great debate since the emergence of web design as an industry. There are three important schools of thought within the web development industry. The first one is of the view that web design is a purely scientific field where art has no place and a good web design is actually nothing but a good code. People who adhere to this belief are often labelled ‘right wing designers’. On the other extreme exist those who believe that web design is art and nothing but art. They regard science as a mere tool and not an actual part of the process to create or the end product. The third school of thought, however, believes in a middle way. They understand web design as a fusion of science and art. This ‘middle ground’ appears to be the best answer to this question.

Now, assuming web design to be a synergetic product – something that exists at the conjunction of artistic endeavour and scientific precision – we have come up with some web design Bristol best practices. Some of the most esteemed web designers in the world adhere to these practices.

Home Page is called ‘home’ page for a reason!

Home page is probably the most important page on your website, because it is your website’s ‘first impression’. Everyone visiting your website lands on the home page, so if your home page is clear and attractive, people will want to browse more. If your homepage is a repulsive mess of banners and keywords, visitors will just bounce off your site. So, what are the best practices for home page design? Make a wireframe sketch of home page before your proceed with the rest of the design. Your design should revolve around home page and everything should lead to it and lead away from it at the same time. Think of your website as a buckyball and the home page as its center. Remember that everything else on your website should appear to be a continuation of home page. You’re going to theme your website around the home page so make it clean, sharp and very, very easily navigable.

The colors of life – Web Design Bristol

If you are a web designer, a great sense of aesthetics should come naturally to you. You should have an eye for beauty and excellent color matching skills. If you are not the creative type, don’t screw up. Instead, adhere to basic color scheming principles, like the 60 – 30 – 10 rule. That is, pick 3 different colors and use them in the ratio 6:3:1. When pairing up colors, try colors from the opposite ends of the color wheel. Colors schemes where all three colors have been chosen from the same spectrum also work well. Always remember that colors speak to your audience. The audiences (your visitors) are going to respond differently to different color schemes, so perform a lot of split testing to see which color works well for your target group.

Mike is a SEO web designer based in Stockholm. He keeps a keep eye on the latest trends in the web development industry. He also writes for a Web Design Bristol on freelance basis.