BELLY UP - Great Web Design

Designing a website can be a daunting task. It can be tempting to make the page as "pretty" as possible. We have looked at hundreds of websites where there are butterflies, babies, or cherubic angels, floating in the background. They tend to have the effect of making the page look busy and difficult to read.

 

White space is an important concept in design. White space simply means the "empty" bits around a page and between each part of the page. White space provides balance and is relaxing on the eye, making it easier to look at a page for longer. The longer you can keep people on your website the more likely you are to be contacted by them. If you have a colour theme and have used a solid colour for the background, think about using more white space to allow the eye to relax.

 

When using images or pictures as backgrounds, it can be more powerful to have one larger image rather than a repeating image. You can then reuse this image in your buttons, or at the top of every page to draw all the pages together with a consistent theme. Compare the two images below and see what a difference it makes to use more white space, as well as a single image rather than the recurring one. These simple changes can make all the difference between looking like a homemade website and one that is professional. In the next newsletter we will look at the use of colour to change the feel of a website and explore the impact of colour on our emotions.