Ways To Apply Minimalism Into The Web Design Effectively

The concept of minimalism managed to stick around until now despite the coming and going of trends in web designing. It is probably because of its classic appeal which they say never goes out of style. Which proves to be true considering its popularity in other form of art, no wonder some web designers have embraced its beauty as well.

In the web designing world, minimalism clicked because it is easy on the eyes and it enhances user experience. Busy consumers are impatient with short attention spans, that’s why they can’t tolerate overly complex designs that are confusing to navigate.

When it comes to designs in our daily living today, less is definitely more. See the beauty in simplicity and learn how to incorporate it into your design and still seduce more site visitors.

Embrace Flat Design

Apple and Microsoft are one of the brands who put skeuomorphism to shame by embracing flat design. You'll notice the bold and vibrant colors on their design but no drop shadows, 3D effects and gradients. That’s flat design for you, it catches the attention of the user but doesn't overwhelm him.

The design welcomes you with clean and clutter-free page layout, vibrant and flat icons and buttons, typography of different fonts is used for the headlines without texture for the body copy, and images are bright.

Incorporate White Space

What comes into your mind when you hear minimalism in a web design? I say more white space! Not only does it exudes sophistication and neatness, but it also allow you to lead the view’s attention to where you want more easily.

Before you scream boring into my face, take a moment to internalize how beneficial white space is for web designs.

Just take Google Search as an example, or did you not notice that Google Search is a study white space?

Google Search used this design to allow users to focus on searching information instead of distract them from it with loud colors or irrelevant 3D effects.

See how clever it is? It instantly draws you on the search bar without a lot of fuss. 

Limit Choices

No matter what you say, you cannot deny that your priority in establishing that e-commerce website is to convert. Sounds simple but definitely not easy. But if you limit the choices that you present to the user or visitors it’ll be easier for you to turn them into buying customers.

Take it from the company called Gengo that has almost nothing on their landing page except a bar where you type in the text or upload a file for translation. For a professional caption translation company, it’s easier for their potential clients to understand the purpose of the website and how to proceed with the service that the site is offering. 

Focus On Bold Typography

Another basic aspect of minimalism that you may find a little too plain but no doubt effective are bold typography and single-column layout. Here’s how it works:

ü  Using a single-column layout lets you go straight to the point which is, inform who you are, what you do and how you can be of service to people. Plus you won’t hear hard-to-navigate complains for sure.

ü  Using contrasting font color with varying size and style and background color is a great way to keep things simple yet interesting.

Simplify Your Navigation

In order for your minimalistic web design to come around well, every part of your site has to blend with each other. Especially your navigation menu which can be crucial, because you want it to be simple for your visitors to understand but not too bland that it may be completely overlooked.

Make the color blend with the rest of your design but in a way that it still stand on its own. Put it in the upper right corner of the page where most people look at when their searching for it. Forget whatever sliding effect or tricks that you’re trying to incorporate, not adding any different layers of navigation on it keeps it functional and simple.

Use Color In Patches

If you’re not so crazy about a lot of white space, then using patches of color maintain your minimalism concept and still makes site visitors pay attention to information or action that you want them to see. This is taking emphasis to a simple yet effective level.

Like the 960 Grid System website, they used splashes of yellow to highlight internal links such as “download” and “view demo”, and blue for the Twitter logo. Doing this subtly but efficiently lead the visitors to your goal, which is to convert and build traffic.

Minimalism Works If You Know How To Use It

Some designers assumes that minimalism is way too plain and boring that’s why they keep on doing those complicated designs. Contrary to their belief, the examples above just proved them wrong. You just have to know how to work its beauty and your site will shine more than all the colors in the rainbow. Moreover, if this concept increases conversion, and makes things easier for users what more excuse do you have not to embrace this approach?

Besides a true artists can seduce people into his art no matter what the concept is, right?

UX Designer: How To Spot The Right One

Due to websites that are becoming a household name because of good UX design , businessmen trying to penetrate online market require a designer to have this in his skillset .

As result, knowing this, those that are eager to have a job immediately claims to be experts even though they’re not.

Now the problem is, as a businessman who wants a real expert ecommerce website designers in his company, how can you tell whether the guy that you're hiring is indeed an expert?

There’s only one way to find out, pay attention if the designer you’re dealing with right now possess the following qualities.

Has The Background

This doesn’t only mean educational background or experience in the field. This is also to emphasize that a designer claiming to be expert on UX has to have a good grasp of the target users’ way of thinking. In short, having a background on cognitive psychology is a really huge plus point on the designer’s side.

Insists On Site Observation

You want a web designer who really knows how to make a design work? Go for the guy who doesn’t drill holes on his chair in front of the computer. The designer who goes out in the field where actual users are and derive his designs from how he sees fit for them is a catch.

Creates Solution For An Existing Problem

Most companies try to come up with gimmicks which they assume will lure in clients. What they don’t realize is that there are existing problems that if solved will make users more than happy.

Knowing that, make sure that the designer you’re talking to knows how to do task analysis, make a strategy out of it and derive a design from those in order to make a solution for the current problem that is troubling the users.

Can Improve The System

Just because there’s an existing system that is being followed doesn’t mean it is absolute. This is why after task analysis the designer should think critically enough to refine those tasks and produce a more efficient flow. Doing this makes a designer produce a better design that can really benefit the users.

Comes Up With User-Centered Designs

Real expert UX designers have a better understanding of your target market. That’s not all, their designs should also revolve around consumers’ needs that they expect to be provided and even the information that will greatly help them but don’t realize it.

Makes Users Happy

A lot of designers will tell you that their ultimate goal is to make your potential clients happy. Because if they’re happy then you’ll be too right? Before you start forming your “You’re hired!” speech think again. Unless that person isn’t elaborating that into how he can do it with what resources and method then he’s probably all talk with no result.

Walk-Through

You know that UX isn’t the only part of a design right? The other side of the coin is the UI or user interface; if your guy can walk you through UI analysis then you have a higher chance that you just found the right person for the job.

He asks question that will identify more strategic issues such as interruptive flow, cognitive loading, and required knowledge. He can also spot your design’s limitations and different approaches that may either work or not for both the users and your domain.

Data-Driven Design

There are certain designs that are really widely utilized due to their popularity. However, an expert UX designers don’t just copy them, he takes data, learns the pros and cons of those designs and makes a design that fits the domain purpose and target market’s needs.

Different Angle

Speaking of data driven designs, just because he has gathered data about designs doesn’t mean he blindly relies on them. True experts always have their own angle or their own take on the information, resources and situation in hand.

Boost Your Conversion Rates With These Web Design Techniques

Talking to a consumer and persuading him to avail your offer is hard enough already, how much more when you can not talk to him face to face? How will you be able to persuade someone to go along with you through a website without the bubbly, upbeat and looking good sales person?

Surprisingly, it pretty much Takes the same technique to do so but instead of a sales person, the web design will have to do all the talking. How? To dig into these techniques and learn.

Be Precise

Go straight to the point. Do not bore your site visitors with elaborate designs that will only confuse Them and refrain from using jargon, most especially. Remember that you are the web designer not the consumers, those terminologies will not ring a bell to Them unless They work in the same field.

   

Ensure Visual Appeal

Notice how sales persons are particularly good looking? That's Because whether we admit it or not, we tend to trust and be Easily swayed when we are being pursued by a good looking person. This is why you have to be Certain that your website's design pleases the eyes of your target audience. No matter how ground breaking your content is, if a visitors  is not  pleased with the design, he will not stay longer to actually appreciate the content.

Know The Power Of Visual Hierarchy And Apply It

Visual hierarchy , ie, Shown and Wikipedia " the Order in Which the human eye perceives what it sees . "Which Basically Means, our minds way of interpreting things from how our eyes see it. In that case, you can take advantage of it by making an image, word or phrase bigger if you want to accentuate it since we immediately be assuming that when something is bigger from the rest then it is important.

Maintain Your Visitor's Attention

When you check out a product or service is endorsing a sales agent, did not you notice how he amps up His "sales talk" when he finally caught your attention? The same goes for a website, if your attention grabber is a moving image at the top of your site, make sure that you have more in stored for your potential clients to keep Them interested. Like a large interesting pictures, intriguing background or whatever unique design you have in mind that works well for your site.