Clean website design – top tips to achieve the look
Published: August 2017
Creating a clean website design
Crisp, Clean website designs are in, and everyone wants one. Flashing buttons, neon colours and cartoony mouse pointers (remember them?) have absolutely had their day. If you are still sporting some of those features, you need to get with the times! Follow a few tips from us, and your website will be matching up to its competitors in minimalist style in no time.
Avoid bright colours
Bright, neon colours can be hard on the eyes, and any text on top can be difficult to read. Go for neutrals and monotone shades, with maybe a splash of colour here and there – rather than garish colours taking up your colour palette. Keeping your website soft to look at is really effective in achieving that crisp, clean website look.
Less is more
To keep your website clean, you need to tidy up! Therefore, strip out anything unnecessary and don’t be afraid to be ruthless! Keep the content, media and buttons your visitors need, and remove anything they don’t. There’s no need to fill up every single space on your site anymore, which takes us neatly to the next point…
White space
White space is a good thing. If you are striving for a crisp look, you will need plenty of it. Short, bold and meaningful lumps of text surrounded by white space is now preferred by those browsing the web. Don’t be afraid to make use of white space as much as you can. It will not make your website look empty.
Large background images
We’re used to seeing piles of images on a website, but you may have noticed over the last few years you are likely to only see a handful of images. The images are often blown up very large, and take up the entire background. This gives a web designer the ability to have images without losing the clean look. They’re often slightly washed out too, leaving plenty of opportunity to support text sitting on top. To achieve this style you’re going to need very high quality, landscape images. A quick snap on your phone isn’t likely to cut it any longer.
San serif font
The flourishes that come with serif fonts are lovely and whimsical – but unnecessary. The clean, crisp, minimalist style is all about removing the unnecessary, so serif fonts will have to go. Sans serif fonts like Arial and Helvetica are popular choices among web designers now. You’ll find that they can make a big impact on how clean your website design can look.
Parallax Scrolling
Parallax scrolling is where the background moves at a slower rate than the foreground. Therefore, this can create depth and movement in your website, without losing the clean look you desire. Sometimes if not done right, using a neutral palette and white space can give your website a slightly dull look. So this is a great way to add some subtle 3D effects to your website.
Need help to achieve the right look?
Here at Urban River, web design Newcastle’s agency, we love a clean website that is easy to use. If you’d like us to bring your website up to date – get in touch
