This is just a guide that can help you or any other website designer create a meaningful design within the specified time frame.A good or effective design is the result of the skills you use and the right things you DO.

2. Your web design is either effective or not and clearly, there
is no room for a middle ground. To create a design that
serves the purpose it is supposed to (read: is effective), it is
imperative that you not only have the requisite skills but
also know what not to do. Simply put, it comes down to two
things:
 Utilising the skills you have and probably acquiring some more on your way
 Not doing things that can lead to an ineffective web site design

3. The skills you need
 Marketing
You may be a website designer, someone who doesn’t
necessarily own the business for which the design is to be
created, but you need to have an understanding of the target
market. Also, keep in mind that not every business needs the
same kind of design. Point in case: what works wonders for a
B2B site may or may not do any good when it comes to an
entertainment website. Keep this in mind, hone your
marketing skills and portray the business favorably.

4.  Layout-ing
Being a designer, you need to determine if all the pages of a
site should have the same layout. While you may be good at
layout-ing (if that’s a word!), you are still advised to consider
the following to ensure that you don’t go wrong:
1. Page pixel width
2. Per-device specification
While you are at it, make sure that you find out all there’s to
know about responsive web design, which is often dubbed the
latest advancement in this context.

5.  Coding
Code can make or break the design and therefore, you must
make sure that you do not end up with poorly-coded pages.
For this, you not only need to keep an eye out for errors, but to
also ensure that the IDs and classes are identified properly.
The idea here is to conform to the web design standards.

6.  Grasping
Before working on the design, you must understand that to
some extent, it is your responsibility to ensure that the visitors
perceive the usefulness of the website. If they don’t, they are
unlikely to use the site for long. Also, don’t test their patience.
If they are supposed to install some plug-ins because of the
design that you create, chances are that they won’t. Even
worse, they may not be as tech-savvy as you think they are.
More importantly, if at all you wish to experiment with
advanced interactivity, do so at your own risk.

7. What you should not do
 Don’t think text doesn’t count:
Yes, a picture is
worth a thousand words, but no one’s coming to the site to
have a look at a couple of images and go. They are there to
read as well and they need text. So, don’t even think of
creating a design that’s literally flooded with images and
even worse, never ever (bold, italics) turn text blocks into
images to grab the users’ attention. Won’t work. Caution:
With too many images, the website background may turn
out to be much bigger than you expect it to be, eventually
leading to a page that loads slowly

8.  Don’t take your typography skills for granted: If
you are a good typographer, act like it. Use the right fonts
and while you are it, don’t forget that choosing the right
size(s) is equally important. You need to read the visitors’
minds and think whether or not your font selection
enhances their experience. If it doesn’t, think again. Caution:
No matter how appealing it may sound, avoid using too
many fonts.

9.  Don’t complicate things:
You are a pro; the visitors
aren’t (at least not all of them). A good idea here is to
assume that small kids are going to view the design you
create. While they may not be a part of your target
audience, imagining them may help you in coming up with a
design that’s simple. Caution: If the design needs you to
create forms, make sure you do not include too many items.
No one has the time to fill up a form with 30 different fields.

10.  Don’t assume things: Let’s start with advanced
interactivity; don’t assume that it goes well with all kinds of
browsers and hardware configurations. It may not, especially
if you talk of older browsers and configurations. Likewise, it
makes no sense to assume that the visitors may have no
qualms if you simply place boxes everywhere. FYI, they like
to visit a well-structured page. Caution: Assumptions can
cost you dearly when you are asked to design the page for a
small business that may not be able to hire a web developer
and you might be solely responsible for designing and
programing the complete web page. In any such situation,
don’t assume that you are only there for the visual aspect.

11.  Don’t be greedy: An effective website design is free from
ads. Correction – free from TOO MANY ads. The business
may want to earn money through the means of
advertisements but as a designer it’s your responsibility to
tell them that they shouldn’t make ads their #1 priority. Play
it smart and use your skills to blend in the ads. Caution: A
page full of ads is likely to drive away the visitors.
 Don’t overdo things: Let’s say you are to choose a color
scheme. What should you do? Include every known color? It
may occur to you that too many colors would lead to an
attractive design, but unfortunately they won’t. 5 colors at
max – that’s the limit; try not to cross.

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