The 3 threes of winning web design: why 3 is the magic number

When it comes to website design, there seems to be an endless supply of conflicting advice. However, if you keep these three simple rules in mind, your new website should be off to a great start.

1) The three-second rule

You have three seconds to win over twitchy-fingered web visitors, who stick or click in a blink of the eye, or in 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) to be precise. First impressions count online.

Colour, graphics, fonts and other visuals make all the difference. Greet your visitors with attractive imagery and colour themes.

Read our insights on colour for a more in-depth look at how to instantly engage your audience.

We've put together some specific advice on designing a homepage, it's a great place to start if you're  designing a completely new site.

2) The three-click rule

This is a hotly contested debate, but it still helps if every page is connected by three clicks or fewer . Make it easy for your visitor. When designing your site, ease of navigation should be your first consideration, not an afterthought. A website map is essential for planning.

Which pages do you want them to find? How easy is it to find your blogs or your ‘contact us’ page? Contact should be only one click away.

For smaller sites with only a few pages, this may not pose a problem: the visitor’s journey around the site is a relatively short one. Proper planning and expert advice are worthwhile nonetheless.

3) The 3/10 of the screen rule

This rule works for interior design and it works on screen. Content should ideally only take up 3/10 of the screen. This rule should inform your use of space on your website. The background space should take up 60% of the screen, the content itself 30% and the call-to-action 10%. So, the main text should take up only 3/10 of the screen.

You may also know the 60-30-10 colour rule relating to the proportion or balance of colours on a page or screen. The dominant colour should take up 60%, secondary colour(s) 30% and  accent colour(s) 10%.

The overarching premise is that too much content or colour can become distracting. Large chunks of text are imposing and off-putting. A calm and a clarity should characterise your site.

This is not a hard and fast rule to slavishly follow, but it is essential to bear this in mind before you overload the page and overtax the web viewer.

Simple stripped-down sites convert. And if you try to emphasise everything, you emphasise nothing.

4) And one extra rule …the rule of thirds

… if you have the time, and to prove we’re not slaves to rules ourselves. It always pays to exceed expectations. So, our fourth and final rule is the rule of thirds.

Trends come and go, but this one is timeless. Equally applicable to art, film, photography...and websites! It isparticularly worth remembering when choosing imagery for your website. Most pages use centre-aligned text for the aesthetics of larger screens. Symmetry makes sense for web pages and text alignment in books.

Asymmetry, however, strikes the eye as unusual, and all the more interesting and alluring for that. The rule of thirds means using 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines to divide up an image into 9 squares with 4 intersection points. The idea is to place the important elements, be they visuals or text, along those lines, or, better still, at the points where those lines intersect.

Get help with your web design in Exeter

The three (or even four!) rules  are useful principles to keep in mind when designing a website. However, they do require a familiarity with web design principles and practices. If you need more support than this, we can help. QuayClick is a web design and digital marketing agency based in Exeter. Our experienced web designers can turn your website vision in to a reality and work with you to create an engaging and visually appealing website. Find out more about our websites or get in touch with us in Exeter to discuss how we could help your business.