Here are some tips on how to make a sleek, modern-looking website, even if you are not a designer.
- Use a free CSS framework such as Twitter Bootstrap.
- Make the key call-to-action (what you want your users to do) big, prominent, and easy to understand. Read more about proper call-to-action design here.
- Make text a light gray such as #5A5A5A (example: Twitter Bootstrap) or #333333 (example: Fog Creek). Whatever, you do, never use black text. It will make your site look outdated and trashy.
- Pick three harmonious colors and use them in 60-30-10 ratio. The Maldives government site uses a couple too many colors.
- Remove as much as you can. Avoid unnecessary banner ads, navigation panels, widgets, and forms. You don't want your site to look like this cat blog.
- Use Font Awesome for scalable vector icons that are simple, elegant, and easy to scale or color.
- Use Google Fonts to give your design a bit of personality and a modern look. With the advent of modern browsers and web-hosted fonts, we no longer need to restrict ourselves to the old web-safe font list. Just be sure the font you choose is easy to read!
- When searching for stock photos, avoid any photos in which people are looking directly at the camera. Here is a better option.
- Use alignment to add order and elegance to your design.
- Get custom artwork quickly and cheaply from fiverr.