Core Principles of Web Design: A Consultant’s Perspective on Building Better Digital Products
As someone who transitioned from management consulting to leading product strategy at a startup, I’ve learned that good design isn’t about creating something revolutionary—it’s about building something functional and user-friendly. Through my experience managing development teams and launching AI products, I’ve discovered that effective design principles are often surprisingly simple yet frequently overlooked.
Why Design Actually Matters
While working with clients across various industries, from healthcare to tech, I’ve observed that design directly impacts both user engagement and business credibility. More than half of users judge a website’s credibility based on visual design alone. This tracks with my experience at DevDash Solutions, where we found that users make split-second decisions (usually between 50 milliseconds to 10 seconds) about whether to engage with our products.
Text Content: The Foundation of User Experience
Give Your Text Room to Breathe
During our product development at DevDash, we learned that optimal line length significantly impacts user engagement. The sweet spot lies between 50-100 characters per line, with user preference hovering around 50-60 characters. This isn’t just theory—we’ve seen real improvements in user retention by implementing these principles.
Make Content Scannable
In consulting, we always frontloaded our presentations with key information. The same principle applies to web design. Users typically read only the first 11 characters of any text block, so those first two words need to count. I’ve found that using a mix of headers and bulleted lists significantly improves comprehension, much like how we structured client deliverables at Roland Berger.
The Reality About Images and Icons
One of the most counterintuitive lessons I’ve learned in product management is about icon usage. The data is clear:
- Unique unlabeled icons: 34% accuracy
- Generic unlabeled icons: 60% accuracy
- Labeled icons: 88% accuracy
This reinforces something I observed in consulting—clarity always trumps cleverness. Never use icons without labels, no matter how intuitive you think they are.
Design Logic: What Actually Works
Embrace Established Patterns
In both consulting and product development, I’ve found that predictability beats innovation when it comes to user interface design. Just as we used standardized frameworks for client presentations, websites should follow familiar patterns. Users don’t want to learn new navigation systems—they want to accomplish their goals efficiently.
Progressive Disclosure
This reminds me of how we structured complex M&A analyses at Roland Berger. We’d start with the key findings and progressively reveal more detailed information. The same principle applies to web design—content above the fold gets 156% more visibility than content below. When managing our AI product launches at DevDash, we applied this principle to significantly improve user onboarding.
Final Thoughts
From my experience transitioning between consulting and product management, I’ve learned that the best design principles are often the most straightforward. Whether you’re building enterprise software or consumer applications, focus on functionality over innovation. As we say in consulting, it’s better to be boring and functional than innovative and unusable.
Remember: Good design isn’t about winning awards—it’s about solving user problems effectively. In both consulting and product development, I’ve found that the most successful solutions are often the ones that users barely notice because they work so seamlessly.
This is just a starting point based on my experience in consulting and product management. I’m curious to hear about your experiences with these principles. What design challenges have you encountered in your projects? Let me know in the comments below.