Graphic design priciples

Designing an effective website requires more than just gathering relevant information and posting it on the web. Like a good paper or research presentation, a quality web project demands as much attention to the selection, organization, and presentation of material as to the underlying research itself. Consider your audience and your goals. You should have a clear sense of who will be using your site and what kind of experience you are hoping to provide. What exactly are you trying to accomplish ? Why is this important?
Plan your site on paper first. Strive for consistency. All the pages in your design should have a common feel: there should be consistency among backgrounds, color schemes, navigational tools, and tone of voice. This is especially important if you are dividing up your site s pages among several team members. Otherwise, your project will seem like two or three separate projects lumped together, rather than a single, unified whole. Provide a rich set of links within your site. Ideally, there should be multiple ways for your user to navigate your pages. You should consider including a prominent home link or icon on each page, a menu or table of contents, and highlighted links within textual material to related information elsewhere on the site.