Responsive design – It’s not brand new, but responsive web design has become absolutely crucial to functional and beautiful websites. It means your ‘site works across all screen sizes natively, and means your website is ready for customers, whichever device they use.
Unified branding – Your branding is your businesses calling card, but so many of us neglect it when online. It began in the 90s as simple websites popped up to give directions to a physical location, but there’s no excuse for it today. Think of your website as an extension of your brand. If it doesn’t convey exactly what your business is about, it isn’t doing a good enough job.
Careful use of typography – Everyone’s got their own taste when it comes to fonts, but they should be used carefully and sparingly. Thanks to advances in web fonts and the introduction of @font-face, it’s possible to store fonts as a resource on your website, so they can be displayed on any screen. That’s led to an explosion of unique typography choices across the Internet, but that doesn’t mean you should go crazy. Typography plays an important role in the way we read online, so ensuring legibility and brand cohesion is utterly essential.
Controlled simplification – One of the most common issues we come up against is that many websites are designed to give as much information as possible right from the get go. The issue with trying to emphasis everything your customer might need is that ultimately, nothing is emphasises. Instead, consider that less is more and that with a well laid out website, your customers will find the information they need.
Don’t forget your purpose – As beautiful as you might want to make your website, it’s important to remember its purpose. If you’re an e-commerce store, you should emphasise on the sale. If you’re an information resource, you should make those resources easy to find, sort and read. The list goes on, but the point remains the same – focus on what you do, and do it well.