First rule of thumb in graphic design (also applies to web design) is to design for first glance. This means arranging your visual content in a manner that will attract the eye to the most important information on your webpage first. This means to use a dominant visual element giving your design a focal point. At first glance the eye should be attracted to the most important element and then to the secondary and tertiary elements. If the viewer gets lost at first glance, the design has not succeeded in creating the focal point.

When it comes to web design it is important to keep in mind there are other factors such as bandwidth issues and graphical constraints which will not be there when designing for print.

Avoid repetitive design if possible. Once again this is relative to the type of site being designed. Site design for a studio will not have the same graphical elements as for a conservative accounting firm. Consistency is extremely important when depicting the image of the accounting firm and more flexible fun design is used for the studio. However it is extremely important to standardize key elements such as menus.

Using white space around key elements adds emphasis. It frames those parts of the design and the message is delivered clearly to your user. Design must be done with clarity and impact in mind, most of the time less is more.

Organization, margins & Legibility

The grid is an extremely important design tool and it becomes even more important when designing web layouts. Grid is structure and it’s a consistent way of handling the diverse relationships between the text and image content of your site. People find it easier to process information presented in a grid and therefore the design becomes more coherent when the text and the images appearing on your site are arranged in a grid.

The grid gives the design a sense of order and constraint; also a sense of discipline providing symmetry and repetition something that the brain finds easy to process.

Organization and proper graphic design makes it easy as possible for the users to understand the message you are trying to convey.

Using proper margins to format text content and arranging the page in a symmetrical manner the web designer can achieve a visually soothing yet highly functional layout.