So I just did post to help businesses chose a web design coy. Now this post is help web designers (professionals and upcoming) understand best web design practices.

1. Think About Conversion
Every aspect of a site’s design plays a role in driving customers to their destination and converting them.
Images – The images should be interesting, unique, and high quality
Color – Is the color scheme attractive and eye-catching?
Text – This includes the use for messaging as well as the descriptions, instructions, and labels
Navigation – How smoothly can people navigate through your website?

2. Don't be afraid of white space:
Another important property of a great website design is the effective use of white space. To non-designers, white space seems like the areas of the site where design has not been applied. For an expert web designer, however, each part of the space that they use around the images, written content, call-to-action buttons, and every other element of the site is deliberately designed. Prominent designer, Ellen Lupton, puts it best by saying: “Design is as much an act of spacing as an act of marking.”

3. Typography, typography, typography
Typography is not just about font selection, but also about the size and color you use for the message as well as the weight of the letters, the spacing around those letters and words, and so much more. Above all, it is about text content that is easy and enjoyable to read.

4. Add less, not more
One of my favorite design-related quotes comes from Antoine de Saint-Exupery:“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. When designing websites, there is always the temptation to add “more stuff”. Clients request additional features to be added, they want more buttons squeezed into the navigation, or they make some other request to pile more into their new website. Adding elements or content that is necessary for success is fine, but anyone who has even had these conversations can attest to the fact that everything being added is certainly not necessary. Too often, these additions add clutter to a design instead of clarity. Therefore, instead of contemplating what else you can add to your site, look at what you already have and determine what can be removed.

5. Have Fun…but Don’t Go Overboard
One of the goals you most likely have for your site and for your online presence is that you want to make an impression on your visitors. You want them to remember your business. One of the best ways to achieve this is by adding some “fun” to the experience After all, a fun experience is one that people enjoy – and if people have an enjoyable experience, that is also often a memorable experience. Now, your initial reaction may be that you cannot have a “fun” website, but let’s define what we mean by “fun” here. Fun doesn’t mean silly. A website can be both fun and professional at the same time by also adding a layer of delight to the experience. It means taking what is mundane and replace it with something memorable!

Source: http://1stwebdesigner.com/web-design-best-practices/