How You Know When Your Website Design is Finished

Web design is very close to art, if not one of the visual arts itself. No one will either dispute or doubt that no web design is possible without creativity, like any other design. The appearance of the site and the way it looks like is usually determined by a designer’s artistic vision. It’s true that while surfing the net you won’t like all the sites you see. One of the main reasons why the web site can be rather unsuccessful is the exceeded number of things that designers tend to include in them. So, the question is – where’s the finish line to stop working on your website design?

1. The main thing that can be really helpful is your own personal feeling, intuition, instinct, the sixth sense, call it whatever you want. It’s your internal voice that tells you to stop creating because one more element and the page will be cluttered. However, not all designers have it and there are many who always think that the work is never finished (frankly speaking, I belong to those unlucky ones). Sometimes designers are induced to stop even earlier than they want, when the clients tell them to.

2. Step away from your work for a little while. Start doing something else and the next day have a look at it. If the piece you are working on still feels ok, probably it is really ok and there’s no need to include anything else in it. However, sometimes reviewing the web design work after a break can refresh your mind and bring in some cool ideas.

3. Ask your friend or even better your colleague, if he or she has time, to look at your work. Another person’s opinion can be really helpful. They can point out some obvious lapses you have made by pure accident. On the other hand, visual art is very subjective and too much subjectivity leads to marginal creations which do not have powerful impact on the mainstream users. I don’t mean that they are bad; they’re just not going to attract a lot of attention, visitors and of course, traffic, which is so vital across the Net.

4. Make a screenshot from the web site or the web template you have made and use it as wallpaper at your desktop. I personally tend to put away the picture from my desktop if it irritates me and replace it with something which is very comfortable for my eyes. So, if the screenshot is in front of my eyes most of my working time, I can view it from all the angles and if I cannot see any evident drawbacks in it, then, I hope, that other people will think so too.

5. Have a project (in your mind or even on a material object) before you start developing. Then keep comparing the web design you have from time to time with the project. If you want to include something which you haven’t intended, then, think carefully before doing it. Maybe you would like to add up a final touch, but beware of that it should really be a final touch.

6. The work on the template or site has ceased to bring you pleasure. You feel nervous and whatever you do you dislike. Then it’s really finish, at least interim. It’s high time to take a break from what you are doing, maybe you won’t return to it any more at all. It’s a nice feeling when you are fully satisfied with your work, don’t miss it.

7. You keep remaking one and the same element (or all elements altogether) again and again. If you are not sure which variant of your work is better, make several screenshots with various elements and then, compare them and choose the best variant. A regular habit of adding ‘one more’ element, especially if there’s little probability that someone else excerpt you will notice them, can delay your business. Keep in mind the purpose of the web site. If it achieves it than there’s little reason to keep working on it.

So, these have been our hints on how not to find the golden finish line in web designing.

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