When designing your new website, you will no doubt research a range of design styles and trends. And one that you will stumble across a number of times is minimalist web design. This is the most popular web design technique right now and for good reason. Minimalist web design has the power to convert more website users into paying customers, while also being perfect for search engine optimisation (SEO) practices. But what are the principles behind this design? And how can you apply these effectively, to help your website succeed? Well, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design experts. We work with companies and businesses across Manchester, and the surrounding area, including Wigan and Southport, to provide web design solutions that can help businesses grow. As a result, we have produced this guide to applying minimalist web design principles.
What are the design principles of minimalism?
So, what are the key principles that underpin minimalist web design? And how do these effect the overall website? Well, there are several principles to consider, including:
- Minimal screen content
- User friendly design
- No excess detail
- Limited use of colour
What are the effective options for applying minimalism in web design?
So, how can you apply these design principles to ensure that your website will be successful? Well, you should consider:
- Reducing information on the screen- plan the content for each web-page at a time, and then remove anything unnecessary leaving only the most important information. Remove any unnecessary links buttons or sidebar content, and really streamline your content so that when your website users open your website, the content on screen is always minimal. This has the advantage of securing your key message, saving time for users, and improving the chances of your written content actually being read, rather than skipped past.
- Using time saving web design tricks- time saving web design is all about reducing the amount of time that your users need to take to find the information or product that they are looking for. This means improving your navigation menu and layout, as well as adding a search bar. It also means a lot of research into what your website users are actually looking for, and how you can help, so that this can be positioned on the landing page, or well signposted from there.
- Limiting colours- minimalist web design uses three colours, just like other web design trends. But in minimalist design, two of these will be colours that are similar to each other, to create a subtle and attractive effect. Just one colour will be used as an accent colour, for attention to very important details, and the call to action button.
- Using more whitespace- with less content on each page, you can afford to use more whitespace around elements to emphasize a sense of space and freedom. This can also help to focus user attention on key points as they move down the page.
For more information or advice, or for professional web design support, get in touch with Manchester’s leading web design experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.