15 Website Layout Design Tips That Users Prefer

In this digital era, more and more new websites have emerged and filled the traffic in the online cloud. These websites are competing with each other, and one of the most popular tricks most people do to attract internet surfers to stay on their website is to use a good website layout design.

The Introduction of Website Layout

Some of you may not know what exactly a layout is. It is a framework that shows the structure of elements within the page. The structure mentioned is the layout of the navigation buttons, CTA buttons, information layout, and other elements that are usually found on a website.

Created by PQ Studio Team | https://www.behance.net/gallery/116682789/Seodity

The Importance of Website Layout

The website layout design is one of the most important things that need to be considered when creating its interface. A good layout design can help site owners to show which important information they want to show to readers effectively.

Here are some points about why you should carefully choose a layout design for your site:

1. Keeps Users on The Website

When you create a website, surely you think carefully about what content you want to display on the website. You certainly spend a lot of time and energy creating interesting content.

A good website layout design will make it easier for website visitors to access the content you promised when they search for information on search engines. This makes it easier for visitors to enjoy the content or products that you present.

Created by Mike | https://www.behance.net/gallery/102374705/Website-design-3D-2D-Edition

2. Make Your Website Stand-Out More

We know that there are billions of sites on the internet. And millions of them will probably offer the same content or products as what you are offering.

That way, it is important for you to make your online platform more attractive and stand out from your competitors.

One of the easiest and most effective ways is to use an attractive website layout design. A great structure arrangement will give a good impression to its visitors.

In addition, a clean, comfortable, well-designed, and user-friendly web interface will show how professional your website is. This is very important to make your online site appear more credible and trustworthy.

Created by Dasha Yurova | https://www.behance.net/gallery/115730041/QStudio-Online-Magazine

3. Introduce Your Website Identity

A website design certainly reflects the identity of a website or the company that owns the website. The design of a website can show the personality and vibes of a company.

If you use bright or bold colors and have a fun style on its visual may reflect a company personality that wants to be unique and dare to be different. Or on the other hand, a website design that is made simple and elegant may want to show that the company is focused on providing professional service.

Showing the personality of the company to people is very important. The identity of a company is one of the main things that distinguishes one company from another.

Created by Tran Mau Tri Tam | https://www.behance.net/gallery/112749871/DSM-Geometric-Pattern

4. Better Reach and Engagement With Targeted Customer

All types of websites have their respective target consumers. For example, if you want to focus on providing content about how to cook and recipes may make housewives their main customer target.

Or for another example, a site that provides information and content about currently popular music will make teenagers their main target. From housewives to teenagers, of course, they have different tastes and needs.

It is our job to make our main target as comfortable as possible on our website. Knowing who are the main targets and what their characteristics are will help us to create an effective and engaging website layout design.

For instance, if your target consumers are adults to older adults, it would be better to create an interface that is simple and easier to use. Create a structure where all options and information are clearly displayed and easily accessible.

Created by Max Samko | https://www.behance.net/gallery/91362861/PlayStation-4

Tips For Creating A Good Layout Design

There is no clear standard and formula to determine whether a visual is good or not. However, there are some things that have been proven to help designers to create stunning designs.

The tips that will be mentioned are often used by professional designers to make a website design that is friendly and attractive to use. Here are some of them:

1. Use Negative Space and Visual Weight

Negative space and visual weight are needed in a website layout design to create contrast for the elements or information that you want to highlight more than other elements.

A good implementation of negative space and visual weight will create a website design that is clean, user-friendly, and comfortable to look at.

The combination of negative space and visual weight can focus visitors' attention on the information that we want them to access and see.

In addition, the use of negative space can also prevent designers from creating a cluttered and overcrowded interface. Cluttered and overcrowded visuals will confuse visitors and make visitors immediately leave your page.

For designers who are still confused about the importance of using negative space and visual weight in their design, there are many sources of information that you could look up to.

Created by Syed Md Ertiza Haider | https://www.behance.net/gallery/86081779/Digital-Agency-Website

2. Create Balanced Design

A balanced website layout design will make the interface feel comfortable and attractive from an aesthetic point of view.

If previously negative space is really needed to highlight important information, then a balanced design is needed to make the equal emphasization that any information presented is equally important.

A balanced design and appearance have been proven to give a comfortable impression. To create a balanced visual, designers can use the golden ratio principle as a reference to guide them. It can be realized by choosing the right heading size, giving a balanced negative space, placing parallel elements, and many others.

Created by Tran Mau Tri Tam | https://www.behance.net/gallery/112096385/Travello-Travel-Landing-Page

3. Create Section For Specific Features

Lots of websites offer lots of options and types of content, but there is no clear section to make it easier for visitors to access only certain information.

If you are still confused about what is meant by an effective section, we can take an example from furniture e-commerce. Usually, on an online site that sells furniture and household appliances, there are many sections that are made specifically for each user's needs. For example, a separation is made between the kitchen furniture section, toilet, bedroom, and various other rooms in the house.

Dividing sections like this will make it easier for online visitors to directly access the information they want. This also prevents them from being confused about finding information because there is so much information offered to them.

Created by Alexander Chakhutin | https://www.behance.net/gallery/115140827/Clique

4. Use Focal Points

In a single page, there will be certain elements that you want to be highlighted more than other elements. These elements can be text, videos, images, headings, and other elements. That way, it is very important to include focal points in your work.

Focal points are very important to use because they can help website owners to influence visitors to do what they want.

For example, in a website design, the focal point is used to highlight discount promotions offered by the company. The attention of visitors will certainly focus on the promotion and most likely take discount offers from companies.

Created by Efir Media | https://www.behance.net/gallery/104801595/ODESZA-promo-website-redesign-concept-UIUX

Best Website Layout Design

During this modern era, more and more types of website layout design have been developed by digital creators. Each type of these varieties has its own pluses and minuses. Not only that, but each type also has a different function and purpose.

Choosing the right type of layout design is an important thing that you need to pay attention to. Therefore, here are some types that you can use in your web design:

1. Zig-Zag

As the name implies, this type of layout design will make our eyes move zig zags when reading content on the sites.Our eyes will follow the focus from left to right as usual. Next, we will move down to the left again. Then, we will move from left to right again.

We have been using this reading flow every day when reading books, reading newsletters, and so on. This zigzag movement is our natural way of reading.

Therefore, this type of structure is often used by most people because our eyes and brain are familiar with it. This makes it easier for visitors to read and understand the content that we present to them.

Created by Tran Mau Tri Tam | https://www.behance.net/gallery/66218749/Cesis-Creative-Agency-FREE-Website-PSD-Template

2. F Layout

Besides zigzag, F layout is one type of layout design that is also the most widely used by designers in their website layout designs. The F layout also adopts our natural way of reading from left to right. Type F layout is usually used on various websites, such as e-commerce websites, company websites, and other types of websites.

Usually, it puts many options on the left side of the screen. This is why this type of arrangement is most widely used by e-commerce websites.

Created by Mariana Yanchak | https://www.behance.net/gallery/110111197/UI-UX-Smm-Blog-Design

3. Full-Screen Image

This type of layout design usually shows directly what products or services they provide in the form of an image and makes it a background.

Usually, slogans that directly indicate what quality is offered by the company also included complementing the background image. It wants to emphasize their product or service to the visitors and it is commonly implemented by many big companies such as Netflix in their website design.

Created by Alexandr Bairamov | https://www.behance.net/gallery/117349715/VK-Energy-New-York

4. Grid

Information and content are divided into sections which are formed into a grid which is one of the main characteristics of this type of layout design. Usually, the Grid Layout is implemented on a website that has many sections, such as a furniture or a music e-commerce.

The grid used can be in the form of text, headings, images, videos, and other elements. However, most users of this type of layout design choose images as the element shown in their grid.

Created by Gioi Tran Trung | https://www.behance.net/gallery/116220755/e-commerce-website

5. Image-Featuring

One of the most widely used layout types in today's website design is image-featuring layouts. This type of layout uses the image as a focal point on the appearance of their page.

In addition, usually, the image will be combined with a minimalist style theme. It is often used for biographical, freelancer, and many others types of professional looking sites.

Created by Adrian Red | https://www.behance.net/gallery/100144759/Ykone

6. Single Column

In this layout, all the information offered is presented in a column that makes it easy for visitors to read or access the content presented.

This type of structure is often found on news websites. Most website designs made for mobile users also use this type of arrangement.

Not only that, but single-column structure are also very easy to work on, and they are suitable for simple and practical arrangements.

Created by Flat Studio | https://www.behance.net/gallery/101543249/Travel-Blog-uxui

7. Split Screen

This type of layout is divided into 2 types of arrangements. There is a vertical split-screen, and there is a horizontal type. Both types imply the use of an interface design that divides the page into two main parts.

The use of split-screen layouts is usually used to highlight the content or main information presented on the website design. This type is usually used on beauty, art, and also corporate websites.

Created by Webdesign Figma | https://www.behance.net/gallery/111564115/veb-dizajn-vdohnovenie-TRAVEL-BLOG-Shanghai

8. Asymmetrical

The asymmetrical layout actually has a concept that is quite similar to the grid layout. The difference is that the grid layout prioritizes symmetry in the presentation of the grid. This asymmetrical structure does not emphasize the equality of shape in the grid.

However, if you are interested in using this arrangement, you must also prioritize the balanced aspects. Even though the shape of the elements in the design is not symmetrical, you can still adjust the layout to make it look balanced and attractive.

Created by Ira Banana | https://www.behance.net/gallery/79771581/HENMAG-Online-Magazine

9. Headline Thumbnails

This type of plan is usually used on gallery websites. In this layout, various kinds of headlines will be displayed along with image thumbnails that describe the content offered in each heading.

Visitors will be presented with a wide selection of topics. So visitors just click on an interesting headline to be directed to further discussion about the particular article.

Created by Zamil Ahamed | https://www.behance.net/gallery/106729969/Clean-Portfolio-Website-Design

10. Card

For those of you who are interested in a simple, minimalist, but still attractive outcome, you can apply this layout to your site. This type of arrangement is widely used on websites that are recently trending. The simple design is one of the main attractions.

Created by Tran Mau Tri Tam | https://www.behance.net/gallery/76827421/MI-Travel-Free-Sketch-Template

11. Magazine-style

Magazine readers know that a magazine must have its own characteristics. Nowadays, there are many sites that implement magazine layout structure into their interface design. This style is usually a combination of various other types of layouts, such as a combination of F layout style and gallery layout.

Created by Insany Design | https://www.behance.net/gallery/107241457/Blog-Meetime

12. Single-Page

This layout style may be very rare to find, but this one arrangement style should be recommended because it has its own characteristics.

In a single-page design, all options and menu options offered on a website are displayed all on one page. This is why it is called a single-page layout.

Created by Tran Mau Tri Tam | https://www.behance.net/gallery/76827421/MI-Travel-Free-Sketch-Template

13. Radial Symmetry

On a radial symmetry layout, there will be a rounded or curved object in the middle of the website design. Later the options offered will be placed around the object. An example of the implementation of this type of layout can be seen on the Wikipedia website design.

Created by Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/

14. Alternating

The alternating layout is a design in which the layout is divided into two blocks. One side usually contains images, while the other side contains supporting text.

Sometimes, this type of arrangement is also referred to as a storybook layout because of the similarity in structure to a children's fairy tale book.

One of the main advantages of using this layout design is that it makes conversion easier because visitors no longer have to click on every option they want to select. This type of layout has been implemented by Dropbox and has proven successful in attracting its visitors.

Created by Kholab Studio | https://www.behance.net/gallery/116388949/End-Game-Website-Redesign

15. Rule of the Third

The rule of third is a type of layout in which the website is divided into 3 parts. Usually, the implementation of this type of layout is also combined with other layouts, such as full-screen layouts.

Created by Bananazz Agency | https://www.behance.net/gallery/70006609/Hoomer-Website

Conclusion

The website layout design is one of the most important things that a website owner should pay attention to. Essentially, creating a layout design for a website is not a hard thing to do if you know the basic principle of designing a website layout.