Now, you may be wondering: what constitutes an ideal design style? Well, if you want to get technical, an ideal design style should, A) be visually appealing and, B) satisfy the wants and needs of both the domain holder and their viewers. While achieving this goal may seem simple on paper, it is often easier said than done. After all, once the creative juices start flowing, stripping your concepts down to their most basic iterations can be a tall order.
That being said, there’s a good reason why simplicity has stood the test of time.
First, consider the viewer. When you’re working with a simple design, you’re working with fewer distractions and less clutter. With fewer things for your users to look at, the easier it becomes for them to navigate your site and engage with the content you want them to see. They have an agenda and you have a product that you want them to interact with, right? Well, the more things getting in their way, the more opportunities you’re giving them to go elsewhere, so why not make it easier on everyone involved?
Once upon a time, this kind of approach would have been met with a response that, when it comes to web design, “more is always more.” These days, in an age where the average user’s attention span is a whopping eight seconds, you have to grab their attention quick and do everything you can to keep it. A simple design does just that and, as an added bonus, also makes for faster load times.
And then there’s you to consider — the designer. First and foremost, a simple web design means less overall maintenance, faster responsiveness, and better functionality across various web browsers. The less time you have to spend worrying about how your site looks, the more time you can spend creating quality content that will draw in more viewers. Seeing as how quality content is what’s going to get you noticed by search engines and boost your ranking, that extra time will come in handy. Not only that, but with mobile devices increasingly becoming the user’s screen of choice, a simple design also lends far better to the confines of smartphones and tablets.
Maybe we’re biased, but we think simple designs just look good, too.
In our experience, the less complicated the design, the more approachable the site, but if we still haven’t convinced you that simple is the way to go, we understand. At the end of the day, there really is no one right way to design a website and great design can come in many different forms. So, we want to hear from you: is a simple design the way to go?
