The Design Decisions That Actually Matter

Every January, designers publish trend roundups. I read them, find them mostly useless, and then go build websites using the same principles I always use. This post is about those principles. The decisions that come up on every project and that actually separate good sites from forgettable ones.

Typography is doing more work than you think

Most people treat typography as a font choice. Pick something nice, set a size, move on. But typography is the primary design element on most marketing sites. It sets tone, conveys credibility, controls pacing, and determines whether someone reads past the headline.

The decisions that matter:

• Contrast between display and body. A strong display typeface paired with a neutral body creates hierarchy without needing extra UI elements. Weak fonts create visual mush.
• Line length. Body text lines longer than about 75 characters become hard to read. Most sites get this wrong by defaulting to full-width text on large screens.
• Spacing between elements. The gap between a heading and its paragraph tells the reader whether they belong together. Most sites use arbitrary spacing that breaks the relationship.

When I’m designing, I spend more time on typography than anything else. Get it right and the rest of the design almost solves itself.

Animation that serves a purpose vs. animation that performs

There’s a difference between motion that helps a visitor understand something and motion that exists to show off. The second kind hurts your site.

Useful animation: content fading in as you scroll past it confirms you’ve arrived at a new section. A button that changes state on hover confirms it’s interactive. A page transition that maintains context helps the visitor understand where they are.

Useless animation: a hero section that takes 3 seconds of choreography before you can read the headline. Text that scrambles itself for no reason. Parallax effects that make people feel motion-sick.

I use GSAP on every project for scroll-driven reveals and interaction feedback. Almost none of my animation choices are decorative. If I can’t explain what the motion is communicating, I cut it.

Dark themes done right require real restraint

Dark mode is a legitimate design choice when it’s executed well. It requires restraint that most sites don’t have.

The common failure: flipping a white site to black. The result is harsh, flat, and reads as an unfinished design.

Done well, a dark site uses multiple surface levels (near-black for the background, slightly lighter for cards, deep shadows that create depth), a carefully chosen accent color that reads clearly against dark backgrounds, and enough contrast in the text hierarchy to make content scannable.

The HWD site uses #0A0F0A as the base background. Not pure black, which is unnatural and causes eye strain. The surface level is #111A14, just light enough to distinguish from the background without breaking the dark atmosphere. Every decision has a reason.

The rule I come back to constantly

Good design is invisible. When the design is working, the visitor isn’t thinking about the design. They’re thinking about the content, or they’re picking up the phone, or they’re filling out the contact form. If someone notices the design, ask yourself whether they noticed it because it helped them or because it got in the way.

Chase that invisible quality. It’s harder than it looks.