Strong web design encourages users to spend time on your site - and visit again. Unfortunately, audience expectations evolve along with technology, so it's essential to refresh every few years to ensure your brand still has a functional, engaging user experience. Whether your online identity needs an updated look and feel or you're starting a new site from scratch, review best practices for website design in 2025 to hit the target.
Focus Web Design on the User
Before you design a website, answer a few questions about the audience. Who is the site for? What does the user want, and why would they visit us to accomplish that goal? Create buyer personas that describe your quintessential visitor and think about how your site design can serve them best. Test your ideas with feedback from actual customers and contributions from cross-functional teams who have valuable varied perspectives on your audience.
Connect With the Eight Cs
Even as the online landscape evolves, your designs should follow the eight key tenets of the user experience:
Clarity
Your message should be compelling and easy for your users to understand.
Compatibility
Your website should work on the latest versions of common operating systems. It should also be accessible on mobile devices, traditional computer screens, and tablets.
Content
Content represents the cornerstone of the message you want to send to your audience. It should speak directly to the user groups you envisioned when creating buyer personas.
Commerce
If you plan to sell products or services through the website, you'll need a user-friendly shopping cart function and a secure way to process transactions.
Connection
Take advantage of internal and external linking. Internal links guide your user through the site while external links help improve your brand's authority and SEO performance.
Consistency
The visual components of the site should align with your other branding elements. Consistency enhances user recognition and builds trust in your business.
Creativity
Strive to give your audience a memorable experience. Provide insight or information they can't find elsewhere.
Choose the Right Font
Make your website easy on the eyes by using no more than two fonts that coordinate with one another. Using web-safe fonts ensures that they'll look as they're supposed to on different devices and browsers. Examples of web-safe options include Helvetica, Cambria, and Arial. Text should be no smaller than 12 points to prevent fatigue while reading.
Consider Your Color Palette
If your brand already has a cohesive color scheme, stick to your existing palette. Using color consistency increases brand recognition by 80% according to a University of Loyola - Maryland study reported by Forbes.
When creating a new palette, aim for three to five colors that harmonize with one another. Many website designers swear by the 60-30-10 rule. With this guideline, choose a single hue you'll use for 60% of the site, a secondary color that comprises 30%, and a 10% color used for contrast and accents only.
Design for Mobile First
While desktop first was once the rule of thumb for designers, a mobile-first approach makes more sense in 2024. About 7.49 billion individuals worldwide will own a mobile device by 2025 according to data from Statista. Most people browse on their phones and devices, so start with the small screen to get the best results for the majority of your audience.
To achieve this goal, avoid incorporating pop-up features, which can disrupt the experience on a mobile screen. Make buttons and interactive elements large enough to easily press with a thumb. Test your designs on real devices to see how the website looks on smaller formats. Mobile-friendly websites also rank higher on Google's search results.
Create a Visual Hierarchy
Good design guides visitors by strategically using color, text, and images. Use larger headings for items you want your visitors to look at first, like headlines and calls to action. In general, critical info should appear at the top of the page. Add bright colors and contrast to draw the reader's eye to important page elements.
Smaller fonts show that you're getting into detailed content, so use point size to organize information accordingly. Don't forget to incorporate white space to keep your site clean, not cluttered. Break up blocks of texts with bullet points and smaller headings to keep the reader engaged. To help guide the reader, try using a scale of three, which means you should incorporate three different font sizes (two headings and body copy).
Prioritize Intuitive Navigation
Your user should have a clear path through your website without thinking too much about where they want to click and why. Good website design makes these choices obvious both by building a visual hierarchy that makes sense and targeting content directly to your users. Don't try to reinvent the wheel: your audience expects familiarity when browsing online, so put the menu at the top of the page or along the side where they typically expect to find it.
Plan your site navigation by categorizing the information you plan to publish into broad content buckets. Give each category an intuitive name that will make sense to your reader. Add a search bar, so users can easily find specific information. Breadcrumbs create a trail of links so they can retrace their steps if necessary. You can also add footer navigation if you have a long page to prevent too much scrolling.
Embrace Minimalism
Less is more when it comes to the design of your website. Use high-quality images to show off your services and products, limiting text to the necessary words. Consistent visual themes can be simple while creating a cohesive experience as users click from one page to the next. Starting with a basic grid can help you organize information while retaining enough white space. Each page element should be clearly defined with a generous margin.
Avoid the Common Pitfalls
A survey of more than 200 web designers published by Hubspot looked at the top reasons visitors bounce from your site. You're likely to lose your audience within seconds if you have a slow-loading site, a non-responsive design that doesn't adjust to the user's screen size, or a confusing structure and navigation.
Add Interactive Elements
Interactivity boosts user engagement on your site, so consider incorporating features such as dynamic scrolling and hover effects. Videos, surveys, chat features, and surveys also encourage your visitors to spend more time interacting with your brand. However, don't overdo it. Stick to a single interactive element per page to preserve functionality.
Make it Accessible
Consult the Web Content Accessibility Initiative's guidelines to make sure users who have disabilities can read and navigate your website. WCAI also offers free tests that highlight potential accessibility issues so you can adjust accordingly. Examples of ways to improve accessibility include adding alt tags that describe each image, avoiding flashing lights and animations that could cause seizures, and making the site navigable with a keyboard alone. You don't have to be a design professional to have an online presence that stands out from the crowd. Our team of experts works with small business owners to handle marketing initiatives including website design, search engine optimization, and more. Contact LovelyPixels to schedule a consultation today.
