When designing a website, you must always try to strike a balance between aesthetics and functionality. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to do that well. Some websites look beautiful, but they lack functionality. Others look simple and functional, but doesn't portray a professional image. So what can you do to make sure that you achieve both goals?

Understanding aesthetics

Aesthetics is all about the use of colors, graphics and text. When you combine these three elements together, you get a complete look. The first thing you need to ask yourself is what kind of tone do you want to achieve? This depends largely on your target audience.

If you are setting up a website for a school or a corporation, you have to keep the design simple and professional. But if you are designing a site for an advertising firm, then the tone should be bright, colorful and attention catching. If you are setting up a site for teens, a fanciful design may be appropriate.

Many web designers make the mistake of overusing graphics. Graphics on a website can be attention catching. But too much fanciful graphics can distract the visitor. Use them only when necessary.

Finally, choose a font that is easy to read. To make it so fanciful that everyone has a hard time trying to figure out what your article title is trying to say. And choose a background that makes it easy for your site visitors to read the texts. Black background with red fiery texts is always a bad idea.

Understanding functionality

With clear goals come functionality. Functionality means your website must attain those goals. For instance, do you want your visitor to sign up for a newsletter? Or do you want your visitors to buy something from you? These are a couple of possible goals. If your website fails to meet this goals, that means the site is not exactly functional. Yes, it may look pretty and fanciful, but it fails miserably when it comes to functionality.

So what can you do to ensure that your site remains functional?

When creating your website, make sure that you keep your goals in mind. That will guide you towards creating a functional site. For example, if you are trying to sell T-shirts on your website, then the T-shirt designs and the «Add to cart» buttons must be the main focus. Don't let anything else shadow these elements. For instance, some designers make the mistake of placing a fanciful background on the website. The background is so colorful that the visitor is distracted immediately. If the visitor fails to notice the T-shirt designs or fails to click on the «Add to Cart» button, then the goal is not met. In other words, the website is not really functional.

You know you have got the perfect balance when the site is doing exactly what you want it to do. Sometimes, this may take a little time as you may need to test out different designs. Be patient, and success will come knocking on your door soon.