Web design trends are like social media algorithms – constantly shifting and tiring to keep up with.
One minute everything is soft, airy, and drenched in muted boho tones, the next it’s maximalist collage-style layouts.
While playing with web design trends is a fun way to let your creative flag fly, it relies on regular website redesigns to feel fresh and effective. Which is a $$$$ way to run a business.
When you invest in a website as a business asset, you want it to perform not just dazzle with a bunch of pretty pixels.
So, how do you get the best of both worlds?
By building a website based on timeless design principles.
Let’s dig into the design principles for websites that stand the test of time—so you don’t have to rebuild from scratch whenever the internet has a new obsession.
Timeless web design principles for high-performing websites
1. Considering UX in design and copy
Great design without great copy? Directionless. Great copy without great design? Hard to follow.
Think of user experience (UX) design and UX writing like mac and cheese—both good on their own, but way better together. The words guiding users through your website are just as important as the way your website looks, functions, and flows.
As a designer and copywriter who has UX baked into my process, I know that when these two elements work in harmony, your website becomes more than just “pretty”—it’s intuitive, persuasive, and ridiculously easy to use.
Why it’s important:
- People don’t have time or the patience to “figure out” a website. So every interaction needs to feel effortless. Confusing UX? They’re gone.
- Builds trust and credibility: A seamless experience reassures visitors, “You’re in the right place.”
- It can help increase conversions (up to 400%!!). The easier it is to navigate and understand your site, the more likely people will take action.
How to get UX right (and why you probably want to chat with a strategic web partner):
- Guide, don’t confuse: Every word should have a purpose. No fluff. No “clever” but confusing Calls To Action. Just clear, helpful copy that moves people through your site.
- Make actions effortless: Fewer clicks, less friction with faster paths to what they need.
- Test, Tweak, Perfect: Your site should work for real users, not just look good in a mockup. That’s why expert UX copy and design involves user input, data-driven tweaks, and continuous refinement.
2. White Space (the most timeless of timeless web design principles)
White space is the strategic use of space around text, images, and other design elements.
Before you think that means a website that’s as stark as a Soho art gallery, white space isn’t about the colour—it’s the negative space that gives your site’s focal points room to breathe.
Why it’s important:
- Enhances readability: Clean layouts reduce cognitive overload which buyers who skim-read will love and neurodiverse people will appreciate and the knock-on effect of that is a reduced bounce rate.
- Improves comprehension: Websites with well-structured content and white space can help increase your reader’s understanding by 20%.
How do you add white space?
- Increase the spacing (padding) around all website elements
- Increase the line height for text elements, especially headings
- Tread carefully with ‘scrapbook style’ design and layouts. These tend to cram in a lot of images, textural elements and ad hoc pieces of copy which can create a sense of chaos rather than feel easy to browse through
3. Accessibility
Accessibility means designing for everyone—including users with disabilities, learning difficulties, or temporary challenges like a broken arm.
Why it’s important:
- We’re not in the business of excluding people, right? Everyone deserves access to online spaces
- When you’re thoughtful about accessible design, it improves usability for all visitors, resulting in higher engagement and satisfaction
- It’s good for business: An accessible website can broaden your reach and increase traffic, with 86% of users with access needs saying they’d spend more if there were fewer barriers.
- P.S. Google ranks accessible sites higher!
How to make your website (more) accessible:
- Add descriptive alternative text (alt text) to images for people who rely on screen readers
- Ensure keyboard navigation works seamlessly, i.e. can all interactive elements be accessed and operated by only a keyboard?
- Use high-contrast colours between text and backgrounds to help with readability and reduce eye strain and fatigue
4. Mobile responsiveness
Mobile responsiveness means designing your website so it adapts smoothly to different screen sizes—whether it’s a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
Why it’s important:
- With 63% of browsing happening on phones, your site must work flawlessly on mobile
- SEO benefits: search engines prioritise mobile-friendly websites in search rankings, so poor mobile performance can hurt your visibility
How to make your website mobile-friendly:
- Design for touchscreens by making sure buttons and interactive elements are appropriately sized and spaced
- Simplify your main navigation with clear menus
- Regularly test how your site adapts to mobile devices, especially after updates
5. Sustainability
Your website might not take up physical shelf space, but it sure as hell leaves a carbon footprint.
Why it’s important:
- Eco-conscious consumers are increasingly drawn to brands that reflect their values, so having an energy-efficient, low-carbon website is one way you can demonstrate alignment with your and your client’s values
- Efficient, resource-light websites are favoured in search engine rankings (noticing a theme here?!)
Tips for a greener website:
- Resize and compress website images and convert them into newer, lighter formats like WebP and AVIF
- Choose an energy-efficient hosting provider
- Minimise the number of plugins installed on your site and videos that auto-play
6. Subtle animation
Let’s be clear—I’m not talking about the flashing, blinking chaos of early Myspace pages or those websites from the early 2000s where glittery text trailed your cursor like a comet.
Modern animations are subtle, intentional, and designed to enhance and guide the user experience.
Why it’s important:
- Your visitors are busy with shorter attention spans, so well-placed micro-animations help signpost where users should focus their attention
- They improve engagement with your site, keeping them browsing longer which signals to search engines that your website is high quality and valuable
How to add movement:
- Partner with a UX copywriter and designer to craft intentional hover effects and micro-interactions that guide—not distract—your visitors
- Prioritise functional animations, like progress indicators or subtle loading effects
- Resist the temptation to go OTT with animation because you may end up slowing your website down
7. Legible typography
Legible typography is the art of choosing fonts, sizes, spacing, and layouts that make reading a pleasure rather than a chore.
Why it’s important:
- Enhances readability: Clear typography ensures your audience can easily read and comprehend your content, reducing eye strain and fatigue.
- Improves the user experience: Well-chosen typography guides readers smoothly through your content, making their interaction with your website more enjoyable.
- Conveys professionalism: Consistent and legible typography reflects attention to detail and credibility, strengthening your brand’s image.
Tips for incorporating typography:
- Less is often more! A simple website typography of one font for headings, one for your body copy and one for accents provides visual interest without creating a sense of chaos
- Go for it if you love a script font, but use it sparingly. Script fonts are notoriously hard to read and when visitors can’t comprehend your copy, they’re more likely to bounce
- Maintain adequate font size, spacing and weight: Use a comfortable reading size for body text (at least 16 pixels for web content). Make sure there’s sufficient line spacing to prevent lines of text from appearing crowded. And thin or light font weights, while they look sophisticated, often don’t provide enough contrast to make reading your copy easy.
8. Consistent branding
OK, we’re not completely ignoring the pretty factor of a website. Your branding plays a big part in how visitors feel when they interact with your site—but the key is keeping the visual aspects of your site consistent and cohesive.
Why it’s important:
- Enhances brand recognition: Consistent use of brand elements makes it easier for clients and customers to identify and remember your brand, with colour improving brand recognition by up to 80%!
- Builds trust and loyalty: When customers encounter a consistent brand experience, it fosters trust and reliability which can lead to a 23% increase in revenue
How to infuse your branding consistently:
- Share those brand guidelines your brand designer painstakingly and lovingly created for you with your website designer and please keep them handy to refer to yourself
- Just because you have 10 colours in your brand palette, you don’t need to check them all off like numbers on a bingo card. A refined palette with colour used to accentuate calls to action equals a polished website that gets your visitors where they need to go (your booking form, your checkout page etc.)
9. Fast load times
We’ve all rage-quit a slow website before. ‘Nuff said.
Why it’s important:
- Here we go with those short attention spans again: People expect a page to load in 2 seconds or less so as load times increase, so do the chances of your visitors bouncing before they get the chance to view your beautiful site
- Page load speed is among the top factors considered by search engines when ranking websites.
How can you speed up your site?
- A lot of the things mentioned in this article will help keep your website lightweight and fast
- Optimise images by ensuring they are correctly sized and compressed
- Use caching (a tool that takes a copy of your site and stores it on different servers across the world so it can load quickly no matter where your visitors are located)
10. On-page SEO
On-page SEO are all the things you do on the pages and posts of your website to help both search engines and users can easily understand and navigate your site.
Why it’s important:
- 68% of online experiences begin with someone typing a query into a search engine. You want to be sure that it’s your website that comes up when they do
- You’re likely to experience higher conversion rates: By aligning your page content with the intention behind the user’s search, your visitors are more likely to find what they’re looking for, resulting in increased conversions.
How to make your website search engine friendly:
- Craft unique, descriptive title tags and meta descriptions that include target keywords to accurately represent what readers will find on the page if they click over
- Structure your content using header tags (H1, H2, H3 etc.) to make it easier for search engines and users to understand the hierarchy and main topics on your pages
- Pop back up to the Mobile Responsiveness and Fast Load Times elements and make sure you’ve got them covered
Want help with a website that looks good, works brilliantly, and holds its own no matter what’s trending?
As an SEO, UX copywriter and website designer, I’ve got you covered with my all-in-one website packages (no gatekeeping, what’s in ‘em and pricing is all there!)
Trends will come and go. Some will stick. A lot won’t. But when your website is built on these solid timeless web design foundations, you don’t have to chase every fleeting design shift to stay relevant.
And if you want to layer in a trending colour palette, a cool scrolling effect, or a retro-style font? Go for it. Play. Experiment.
But you can do it with confidence knowing your site’s core is solid enough to stand the test of time—no constant overhauls required.
