Create websites that are as conversational as they are beautiful: the comprehensive checklist every beginner web designer needs.

The first few months starting as a website designer can look like either of two scenarios: 

 

Scenario One:

A disorganized mess of overwhelm and confusion, where you’re trapped underpromising and overdelivering. You’re desperately trying to get profitable amongst a flood of unanswered leads. 

 

Scenario Two:

A calm, collected, enjoyable experience where you’re every bit as creative and free-flowing as you are organized and methodical. You’re effortlessly attracting and converting dream clients with what you say, just as much as what you design. 

When I began BoldxBoho? I was 100% living out scenario one. 

 

Put bluntly? I was a mess. 

And it was only when I started building out copy-and-paste processes that served my working style, that I became more efficient, professional, and started making the money I knew I fucking deserved. 

 

It took me a while to get there, but today? I’m putting you on the fast track. 

Skip the headaches, $12 per hour days, and go straight to making bank with my ultimate design checklist. 

 

It’s the comprehensive list of dos and don’ts every beginner website designer should be checking (and checking twice) after every design project, and before every client delivery. 

 

We’ll cover:

→ The 10 critical elements every design must have (or avoid), encompassing:

1. Fonts
2. Colors
3. Branding
4. Images
5. Layout

 

Helping to:

→ Ensure an effective, seamless, replicable design process for you.

→ Deliver a clear-cut, comprehensive, thorough design experience for your clients. 

→ Prevent costly (and embarrassing) design mistakes.

→ Create a reputation as a professional and experienced web designer.

→ Guarantee your work is as profitable as possible.

 

1. DON’T: Feature brand and website colors that clash

Let’s kick it off with an obvious one. Colors are everything in design, and they make or break the appeal and digestibility of your client’s brand. 

• Too bright
• Too dull
• Too conflicting

 

Avoid all of these obvious mistakes by:

 

A. Going back to basics and checking complementary colors with a color wheel like this:

B. Using Pinterest for color scheme inspiration (and what schemes to avoid)

C. Using this handy free color theory and scheme creator from Canva

When crafting your client’s brand and/or website palette, you’ll want to use the principle of complementary or analogous color schemes. And when in doubt as a beginner web designer? You can always just Google ‘colors that clash’!

2. DO: Make fonts unique, yet clear

If colors are the lock, fonts are the key to a scroll-stopping website design. Choose the right font? And it’ll have an invaluable impact on-site time, conversion rate, and your audience’s experience. Pick the wrong one? And you’ll see them drop off almost instantly, resulting in no cut-through from your work! 

 

As a general rule of thumb, choose a typeface that links back to your client’s personality and brand identity. 

Serif fonts are traditional and professional, while sans-serif fonts are more modern and playful. Ultimately, let your creative intuition as a beginner web designer guide you while keeping useability and visual impact front of mind.  

 

3. DON’T: Publish fonts that are too big

Bigger isn’t always better… at least when it comes to fonts. You may have a stunning typeface you want to showcase, but it’s important to maintain balance for an elevated and visually appealing design. 

 

Generally, paragraph fonts should remain between 15 and 18 points for desktop, with titles and sub-headings incrementally larger than this. 

 

4. DO: Create fonts of a readable size

Make it just right! Fonts that are too small can have an equally negative impact, particularly with over half of website browsing conducted on a small, mobile screen. 

 

By maintaining a consistent mobile font size of about 8 to 10 point for your paragraphs, you’ll ensure you’ve got the ‘goldilocks’ of website fonts. 

 

Hot tip: Keep the length of your paragraphs and ‘skimmability’ of your copy in mind too! Chunk it out and break it up so your audience isn’t overwhelmed by a wall of text. 

 

5. DON’T: Sleep on the power of images

Your client’s smile is your design’s best asset. Brand photography is capable of uplifting, complementing, and boosting credibility, especially when it’s likely to increase user’s brand recall by up to 65%. 

 

Ensure your client has (or plans to obtain) an album of high-quality personal branding images as this is a crucial qualifier and humanizer for potential leads. 

 

And if you’re still waiting on those images, ensure any stock photography is edited in Lightroom or Canva with consistent filters for a cohesive brand identity. 

 

6. DO: Craft branding that is memorable, but not overwhelming

Let your client’s audience connect to them with branding that speaks, not screams. We’ve all seen visuals that are too bold or too subtle, preventing us from feeling a genuine pull towards purchase or conversion. Don’t be guilty of this as a beginner web designer! 

 

Ensure the branding is cohesive and aligned with your client’s personality without being eclectic or wild for the sake of it. Pair it back, and when in doubt? Come back to the age-old rule: ‘less is more’. 

 

7. DON’T: Neglect your client’s goals and their audience’s needs

What are your client’s big-picture, bold-AF, goals, and dreams? Embody these in every strategic beginner web design move you make. 

 

From the calls to action to the conversion strategy, get deep into your client’s audience’s feelings, values, interests, and needs too. This ensures everything from the hero image to the body copy is hitting that golden ‘think, feel, do’ website note. 

 

Meaning your client and your design are 100% goal-aligned and set up for soulful success. 

 

8. DO: Prioritize a strategic-AF layout

Beyond the obvious SEO-street cred, making your website stunning yet easy to use is a sweet spot you want to hit. After all, your design isn’t just there to sit and look pretty, it needs to make your client money! 

 

First things first? Confirm it has these critical pages:

• Home
• About
• Services
• Contact 

 

And a whole bunch of calls to action to guide your client’s audience on a journey to the point of conversion! Click here, and scroll to tip number seven for more website layout tips!

 

9. DON’T: Forget to optimize for mobile

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: We’re living in a mobile-first world babe. 

 

Your client’s audience is most likely looking at your design on the go from their smartphone or tablet, so beyond nailing your font size (refer to tip number four), there are a few other must-follow rules for beginner web designer mobile optimization. 

 

This includes:

• Stacking elements from left to right
• Prioritizing content from most important (top) to least (bottom)
• Using as few contact form fields as possible
• Avoiding invasive, overwhelming pop-ups
• Adding a search bar for easy navigation on content-heavy sites

 

10. DO: Feel proud of what you create

If you’re not head over heels for what you’ve created as a beginner web designer, how the fuck is your client going to fall in love? 

 

Not feeling it? Before delivering what you deem sub-par work, it pays to back to the drawing board. This is your baby as much as it is your client’s, so tune into what feels off. Is it…

 

• The colors, fonts, images, or other visual elements?
• Uncertainty about your client’s goals or unique style?
• Unaligned navigation or copy?

All in all, you MUST feel confident in what you’re delivering to your client – not only to ensure they’re screaming your name from the rooftops but to maintain your integrity as a beginner web designer. 

 

TL;DR? 

Your 10 do’s and don’ts for beginner web design are:

1. Don’t let brand and website colors  clash
2. Do make fonts unique and clear
3. Don’t make fonts too big
4. Do make fonts readable
5. Don’t forget the personal branding images
6. Do create memorable but subtle branding
7. Don’t neglect your client’s goals and their audience’s needs
8. Do prioritize a strategic layout
9. Don’t forget to optimize for mobile-first and foremost
10. Do feel proud of what you create

 

Promise me you’ll follow the above checklist after EVERY DESIGN to: 

→ Ensure an effective, replicable design process

→ Deliver a memorable design experience

→ Prevent”‘eek-so-embarrassing!” mistakes

→ Create a future-proof reputation

→ Guarantee your work is profitable