Basic Web Design Ideas for Students

Are you interested in website design? 

Website design is a vital part of the web development process. It involves crafting a functional piece of art that attracts traffic to a website.

Most web design students often have a creative streak and are always eager to make their first website. However, designing a great website is no easy thing. 

Even the most skilled web designers sometimes get hit by a designer block, and the creative juices stop flowing. As a result, they get and frustrated. If you feel you’re in such a situation, this post of simple website design ideas is here to help you.

Below we’ve provided you with several basic website ideas to get over the designer block when ideas are not flowing anymore.

Ready? Let’s begin…

What Is It Like to Be A Design Student?

Just the idea of getting started as a web designer can be overwhelming. But what is it like to be a web design student?

A web design student gets to use various methods to create attractive and professional-looking web pages. A web design course helps students gain the technical knowledge and tools they need to create quality webpages. Over time, students understand the artistic and mechanical elements of modern-day web designing. As a result, they get to create an easy-to-use site with a crisp, clean structure and navigation. If you’re a student in need of assistance with your web design research paper, consider reaching out to experts at DoMyEssay to help write my research paper with expert guidance and support.

However, in design college, designing is not all about hands-on experience and creativity. Students must prepare themselves to study basic areas such as the history of design.  

So, if you plan to join a web design college, be ready to write various academic papers and essays. And if you have a problem in creating text, then you can turn to the online essay help for college students to receive quality essays. You will work with writers who’re experts in their field and work fast to deliver unique work for their various customers. 

Through formal education (theoretical lessons, assignments, essay writing, etc.) and hands-on experience, you can create your own beautiful websites, webpages, and blogs.

Finding Inspiration for Your First Design Work

Selecting something basic

For your first web design project, select something simple and fun. Don’t tackle things you have no experience in. We recommend you start with a blog and try to understand how Content Management Systems (CMS) works since it will be crucial for future website designs.

Suppose you don’t want to create a blog; design something that showcases your skill and hobbies. Creating a design that portrays your passion will help you make a fun, enjoyable first project.

Inspiration from other designers

Have you ever come across a website with a stunning design?

Pinterest is an excellent place to derive inspiration for website design. You can collect visual material that might help in your project or will provide direction, whether they’re images, layouts, color schemes, or even existing websites.

Create a mood board for your collections and use it as a quick reference resource if you find yourself out of ideas.

Find other sources of inspiration outside the web

As a web designer, you don’t have to depend on the web alone; try to make use of visual languages that you can find anywhere, like the digital kiosk at your bank or a cover of a novel. Use your eye to identify and analyze good designs, irrespective of the medium.

Best Ideas for Web Design Students

Have a step-by-step plan

They say failing to plan is planning to fail. This also applies to any form of design. Before designing, make sure the basics are in place. A basic plan for designing a website includes:

• Defining the goal of the website: You need to first understand what the site is all about so you can design something that matches the client’s expectations.
• Sketching the visitor’s road map: You already know the website’s overall goal; next is to figure the road the visitor will take.  Think of what a visitor wants to achieve from using your website.
• Have a style guide: A style guide will keep your design consistent and on track. It defines the design elements, including font, colors, background, size, clicks events, etc.
• Planning your SEO: SEO is a crucial part of every website. It helps you understand how to structure information for visitors and search engines.

Focus on the website structure

Focusing on the structure of your website helps you to step away from the designing process and get an in-depth view of the website.

Try to work with different mediums other than your PC. For instance, you can make sketches on paper with a pen and forget about the other elements for a moment. Alternatively, you can use a whiteboard to make the whole project collaborative.

We recommend you create your design in gray shade first and then add color later. As a result, you will be forced to create a visual hierarchy without having to depend on color.

Provide a search engine-friendly design

Some websites cannot rank first on search engine results, despite having good content because the website structure makes it hard for view and search engine to read the content.

As we discuss ideas for web design students, we can’t fail to mention this one. To make your website rank higher in search engine result even if you will not write any content, ensure you’ve done the following:

•       Offered a place for breadcrumbs
•       Use headings (H1, H2, H3….)
•       Make use of bullet point where possible
•       Avoid excessive use of pictures, especially if the website is not related to pictures or visuals.
•       Utilize thumbnails and zoom effect on click to make the page load faster

Try to stick with web standards.

Web designers are creative, which is a good thing. However, you need to set some boundaries to limit your creativity.

In web design, there are several established standards. Website visitors are used to certain website elements and design tropes, and when you change them, it might confuse them.

Below are some established standards:

•       Main navigation across the top of the screen
•       Contact information in the center or top right
•       Social media icons in the website footer
•       Uniformity in design and branding across all pages
•       The search feature in the header

Make it mobile-first

Today, more and more individuals are browsing through their smartphones and tablets. Hence, the need for designing a mobile-friendly website. A mobile-first design will not only attract traffic to a site but will also keep visitors interested in a website.

Conclusion

Many designers can design websites, but very few can create exceptional websites that not only attract but also keeps visitors. Nevertheless, we hope these few ideas will help you create an outstanding first-time website design project.