Web design is like a game of chess, you need to use all of your pawns efficiently in order to win with the least losses. There is a certain finesse that comes with a good web design; typography, layout, your art, etc. All these things need to come together in a way that is user friendly and easy on the eyes. 

Design Strategies, What’s your game plan?

Good web design surrounds a platform that conveys the right type of feelings inline with your ultimate goal for the website (ethos,pathos,logos!). Learning more about your target audience is based on the type of questions you ask and what you do with said questions. A way of collecting this information would probably be through a survey that asks which type of design do they feel drawn to the most. Make sure your questions will give you enough information to make an inference on the things that they might find interesting in the future. Learn to think ahead!

Rules of Thumb

After you determine all of these things, then you can start to focus on your design. But don’t forget the theories that will make your design great: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity (C.R.A.P). The Joshua Tree Epiphany, everyone starts somewhere and for designers, it is exactly in this place that we start.

• Contrast: Elements that stand out: colors or letters
• Repetition: repeated elements that keep consistency
• Alignment: Making visual connections
• Proximity: Making visual unity through closeness

This is your foundation, and as iffy as it may sound, if you use it you’ll probably want to thank me later. These few rules and regulations allow for a more visual friendly environment that draws people in.

Aside from that, learn to put yourself into your audiences shoes, if you were your audience what would you want? Of course don’t let yourself be carried away into your own preferences, make sure using the information you have gathered that it would be something that your audience would like. If you have ever browsed on the internet and opened up a website, did it draw you in? Or make you automatically click away? Your website will be found on purpose as well as by accident, so make sure your information is consistent with your overall design. And that’s pretty much how you reach and keep your target audience for websites and other business applications.