How to Make Your Web Design Stand out from the Crowd
All web designers want their work to stand out from the crowd … but what does that take?
In this post I’ll pick a few sites I think pack a punch and I’ll explain why.
[Editor's Note: Mike Kus, Andy Clarke, Brendan Dawes, Elliot Jay Stocks, Paul Boag, Simon Collison and more will be talking about Web Typography, Microformats, HTML 5, CSS3, Creativity and more at The Future of Web Design Tour.]
Less is more
Keep it simple. It’s easy and tempting to try and fill a web page with too much information. Don’t be afraid of space on a page. I’ve lost count of how many times people have asked me “Why is there a space there”? I’m sure this is just pure web page conditioning. People don’t ask the same question in print design. We’re so used to seeing web pages packed with info that when we see a space it looks strange.
Space is good. Let your design breathe.
Also carefully choosing the colour palette for your site can have a massive impact. I think these three examples demonstrate use of colour and space beautifully.
Images and Typography
Get creative with imagery and typography. Think in terms of poster or book design to further distance your site from the thousands of “Web 2.0″ style clone sites. I just love the typography in the RVLT site below. It’s in flash but even the page loading is beautiful… I wish it took a bit longer!
The fact that some of these site are in Flash doesn’t mean one can’t create just as powerful and effective site designs using just HTML and CSS.
Buck current web trends
Web design is drowing in trends: Gradients, subtle 3D effects, shadows, glows, textures. They all have a place but if you really want to stand out from the crowd do something different. Avoid the current trends, experiment and maybe even set trends!
I also loved the way in which Tim Van Damme threw conventional web trends out of the window in his redesign of 24 Ways. It was also cool to see him experiment with RGBA and CSS3.
Both the 24 Ways design and the Clap Clap design below show how websites can still be beautiful while ditching current web trends.
Details and Execution
One sure fire thing that will help your site stand out from the crowd is your attention to detail. For example putting real effort into the composition of the page will shine through. Elliot Jay Stocks demonstrates this perfectly with the latest version of his site.
The Boutique Cycles and Checkland Kindleysides both show how attention to detail just raises the bar that little bit higher.
So what do you guys think? What makes a website stand out from the crowd? What other sites can you suggest that already do this? It’d be great to here your thoughts.
[Editor's Note: Mike Kus, Andy Clarke, Brendan Dawes, Elliot Jay Stocks, Paul Boag, Simon Collison and more will be talking about Web Typography, Microformats, HTML 5, CSS3, Creativity and more at The Future of Web Design Tour.]