Introduction to Website Composition Principles for Beginners

Creating a website is an exciting process and one that definitely opens a lot of creative possibilities. As you begin designing your website, there is a chance that you’ll start asking questions like “Which colour should I use?,” “Which type of menu is better?,” or even a more generic “How do I make sure visitors have a nice browsing experience?”

Designers know that answering these questions is better with a set guideline of principles that define which elements work better in relation to each other, and which shapes and patterns will perform in the ways you look for. Having these principles significantly simplifies the creation process, guiding you towards the direction of your desired result.

These sets of principles applied to web design are known as website composition principles, and this article is all about them.

5 Website Composition Principles to Know

The principles of design can be defined as a set of principles and guidelines adopted by designers, from motion designers to web designers and architects. The aim of these principles is to direct the design process in such a way that the outcome is both aesthetic and practical.

While there is no exact number of how many design principles exist, with them varying per field, this article will touch upon 5 principles that are most relevant to web design.

Balance

The balance in your website is the “weight” of each element you use, from texts to buttons and images. To achieve a balanced website, it’s important to ensure that the elements of your website don’t overpower each other.
In the process of designing your website, you can aim for symmetrical and asymmetrical balance.

Symmetrical Balance

Symmetrical balance makes for a visual experience that is consistent, if predictable. The visual weight is equal on all sides of the design, running down straight lines both on the left and right sides of your website.
Symmetrical balance has a number of benefits, the key to which is simplifying the process of “digesting” the information. Go with symmetrical balance if you are looking to give your visitors a straightforward and comfortable navigation process.

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Asymmetrical Balance

The main difference between symmetrical and asymmetrical balance is the arrangement: in the case of asymmetrical design, the weight of the elements on both sides is the same, but the arrangement is different.
Asymmetrical balance often makes for a more engaging and interactive website, as users notice the design more, and get involved more too.

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Contrast

The contrast in web design means placing the elements next to each other in such a way that one of them stands out. This comes in handy when you have something that needs to be emphasized. Contrast creates a space on your page that stands out and requires the user’s attention, making for a more involved experience.

One of the more obvious ways you can use contrast is by choosing the right website colour scheme, and going with hues that complement each other without overshadowing one another. Your fonts, font sizes, and website imagery can also be used to express contrast in your website, and emphasize the content that’s the most critical. In the example below, the combination of pale pink background and darker pink text, as well as elements and photos in similar colour shades creates an exciting and dynamic design that’s not heavy on the eye.

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Hierarchy

Hierarchy is one of the most critical, and most well-known principles of design. As the term suggests, it means highlighting visual elements that are the most critical in the website design. Without hierarchy in place, the visitors won’t know which element is more important and will consider each line of text, image, or button of the same importance.
To establish a website hierarchy, you need to start by thinking about which elements of your website are important, and require standing out. You can then achieve hierarchy by manipulating these three factors:

  • Size — The bigger the element, the more attention it draws. People will pay more attention to the bigger elements, so the more important the text, the larger it can be.
  • Colour — When you want to highlight something, colours come in handy too. For example, colours that have high contrast with the background will be noticed more.
  • Position — The position of an element says a lot about its importance: the higher the element, the more important it is. Place the elements that you want to emphasize as close to the top as possible.

White Space

White space refers to the spaces in your website that are free of any elements. White space is the margins on your page, the space between text blocks, texts and buttons, visuals, etc. White space has critical importance in web design, and has many benefits: it makes your website more readable, the information less crowded, and overall improves user experience. White space is the foundation of a balanced website, where the elements work together in ways that there is room for each to breathe.
The important thing to note about white space is that although it’s referred to as “white,” it doesn’t have to be. It can encompass background photos, solid colours, or even patterns. Here is an example of the smart use of white space in web design.

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Unity

Think of unity as the culmination of your website. It’s the combination of all the elements you’ve included in your website and how they work together. To achieve unity, every element on your website, from text colour to button shape and location, need to have a specific role and place in your overall design. No matter the number of elements you have, your website shouldn’t be overwhelming: all components should work together in a clean and visually pleasing manner to create a harmonious design.

Common Layouts Used in Website Composition

Now that you are aware of the basic website composition principles, let’s take a look at some common layouts used in website composition by web designers around the world to ensure higher performance.

Single Image

The first in our list of common compositions and layouts is the single visual layout. This layout is very simple: it’s a design with a single visual being the focus. It can be a photograph or a solid colour as a background, with a lot of white space, and some text navigation added to the page, as shown in the wonderful example of This Is Paper creative studio.

Source: This Is Paper

F-Pattern

F-pattern is part of well-known research done by Nielsen-Norman Group trying to understand the online reading patterns of people through eye-tracking. F-pattern is the chief pattern among the findings, with Z-patterns following it (to be discussed below.) The pattern indicates that:

People first read the upper part of the page, in horizontal movement. This forms the top part of F.
Next, they move down a bit, and in another horizontal movement, cover the middle part of the page, shorter than in the first case. This is the second stroke of F.
Then, they again move down, reading the left part of the bottom of the page, this time in a vertical movement, forming the stem of the F.

Here are heat maps based on eye-tracking demonstrating the movements.

Source: Nielsen-Norman Group

The F-pattern shows how the eyes of the reader will move in case of a dense text when there is no other visual object to distract their attention. It shows that people fully read the top part of the page, starting to skim more as they go down. That’s why, if you have something important to say in your text, make sure to include it in the top part.

Z-Pattern

Z-pattern is another pattern discovered during the same research, based on the eye movements of the readers. Z-pattern is typically the reading pattern people have for pages that are less dense with information.
The Z-pattern has certain characteristics of the F-pattern (for example, the top stroke indicating that people read the opening fully), but it’s more minimal. The aim of the Z-pattern is to encourage the visitors to take action, rather than to read text. This makes it a perfect layout for landing pages where people need to download e-books, fill in forms, or otherwise share their information. Here is a great example of a Z-pattern layout used by CallFire.

Source: CallFire

Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is more known as a common principle used in filmmaking and photography, but it’s also a common and effective layout in web design. The aim is to create pleasing aesthetics and balance in images, making the design more pleasing to the eye.
According to the rule of the thirds, each image or working space should be separated into nine equal parts with two horizontal and two vertical lines, like so:

Each line runs along with the “third” of the image. Placing the most important elements of your design along these lines, especially their intersection, makes for a much more pleasant viewing and reading experience, where all the important parts are emphasized.

Source: Build in Amsterdam

Over to You

Now that you are armed with these rules and principles, the website creation process should be even simpler and more fun. Although they might feel limiting at first, you’ll slowly come to realize that these guidelines give you a lot of flexibility with your design, while not compromising the visual experience for your clients. They also make it easier to start with the whole process, because instead of having a blank canvas, you more or less get an idea of what your website needs to look like. Whether you are using a website builder with customizable templates or creating a website entirely from scratch, we hope the principles discussed above will be of great help!