We’re all familiar with the Minimalism movement. The movement that focuses on living with as few items as possible. Documentaries have been filmed and books written on people who believe Minimalism is a simpler and cleaner way of living. Basically, in this rush of our tech frenzied society, simple will make us happy.
This idea has been a factor in website design for decades now. The most famous example is Apple. The tech giant whose stores are gleaming in white open spaces. If you haven’t already noticed, Apple moves a lot of product. Steve Jobs used to contribute much of this success to the simple design behind Apple.
We know the simple design can be effective. It’s crisp and clean, and gives the user room to breath. It looks great on every site too, check out this Toronto condos company and this real estate lawyers website. Clean, crisp, and easy to digest. So how can you design your website to be simple and effective?
1. Your Website Needs Purpose
The first aspect of a clean and simple website is that it needs a clear purpose. What are you trying to achieve with your website? If your goal is to share information about your communities housing situation like Ana Bailao or to share fitness tips, this needs to be explicit on your site.
Once you understand what your purpose is, it’s time to let the world know about it. When a visitor arrives on your website they should know exactly what your site is about. Many bloggers and businesses often struggle in this area because they’re trying to do too many things at once.
2. Choose Your Font Wisely
A great font can make all the difference for your website. You should pick one font for your site and stick to it. Make your font unique to what you’re trying to do, but by all means make it easy to read and painless for the eyes. The more professional your font looks to more credible you’ll come across. Spend time digging through fonts and see what other sites are using.
3. Call To Action Placement
If you’re trying to get people to subscribe to your e-mail newsletter then placing your CTA’s is one of the most important aspects of your site. Your site should be designed around your CTA’s so you can drive the most amount of people to joining your e-mail list. Everyone needs to experiment with what drives the highest amount of opt-in rates for their specific site, but this is typically done best with a landing page.
A landing page is a site where almost all new visitors should flow through. This can be the front page of your site or even a pop-up that doesn’t permit access to the site without clicking a button.
4. An Image Says A Lot About You
Your website should include images to break up sections of text and to keep the reader interested in your site. There are plenty of great websites out there where you can get quality stock photos for free if you don’t have any which you want to use. A popular trend for bloggers is to include a professional photo of them in the right sidebar with a short ‘About Me’ section. If you can’t find a quality photo for free, considering investing the money in one.
5. Clean Background
A background shouldn’t be something you ever pay attention to if you’re going for a simple site design. Pick a plain color, such as white, to make your text and images pop. Focus on the extra space around your text. Your text should be framed like a portrait, with about an inch to an inch and a half of uninterrupted background. This will help to give your site that crisp and simple look at the touch of a button.
6. Utilize A Grid Layout
Just about every theme out there comes in a grid layout, so you may not have to worry about this one. It’s easiest for people to dissect and digest information that’s laid out in sections. When things are off even a slight amount on your site, it can make users feel the site is unprofessional and not enjoyable to look at.
There are thousands of both free and paid themes out there, but if you’re struggling to find a free WordPress theme which gives you the image you’re looking for, then consider investing in a paid theme. They’re well worth the cost in the long-run for the professionalism of your site and often come with regular updates and tech support.
7. Be Evergreen
There’s a popular phrase in the blog world and that’s “evergreen content”. Evergreen content is canonical and will be able to be timeless. Your site should be the same way. When you produce an evergreen website people will be able to come to your site for years and never feel it’s outdated. That’s a huge benefit of the simple website design.
Creating a clean, crisp, and simple site is easier said than done. If you’re wanting to make the Minimalism web design movement a reality, then follow these tips. It’s important to also look at plenty of examples of other sites too. Look at how popular websites place their CTA’s, what fonts they use, and how they lay out their content.