Author: Viktor Vincej is a blogger, affiliate marketer and website founder webcreate.me. He has been professionally involved in web design, online marketing and WordPress for more than 5 years.
The article was revised and updated in May 2026.
Simplicity seems to be a timeless trend in web design despite the fact that "simple can be more difficult than complex" (in the words of Steve Jobs). In order to find the right recipe, you have to plan the process well, you have to have vision and foresight. When you succeed, you will achieve endless benefits. Simple pages are clearer, faster, and easier to navigate the conversion is unbeatable. Such designs also take less time to design, update and maintain.
Simple pages have all been removed unnecessary elements from code, design and content. A study by Google from 2012 found that it was precisely such simple sites that users consistently rated as the ones they liked more than complex ones. Even pages that appear to be standard (those that had a layout typical for a certain category) were rated as the most beautiful. Based on these findings, we can safely say that simpler is better. Users prefer sites they are familiar with over those with more visual complexity.
Why should you simplify your website design?
Too many site owners tend to add new features and content until they get to the point that will harm your site. In such cases, they should rather simplify the page. Tommy Walker from ConversionXL talks about prototyping pages and discusses how fluency theory of recognition and visual information processing can be used to simplify your page.
Prototyping
Prototyping means that your brain has already formed a certain image in your head about the things you see every day (for example: if I say furniture, you immediately think of a chair). We could also explain it as shortcuts in the brain. These principles also apply to websites. If you click on an e-shop or social network page, you already have a certain image in your head of how it should look and what emotion it should evoke in you. If something doesn't fit this idea, your brain can very quickly reject that site without you even realizing the reason why it did so. In short, sites that meet these principles "try to be predictable and set up to meet the expectations you already have in your head."
Recognition Fluency
Recognition fluency is how the brain responds to prototypes. In our case, that means you're more likely to like a site that you can navigate intuitively and know where to click when you're looking for something. If it isn't, your brain may think the site is complicated and too difficult to navigate. Therefore, the pages have a certain fixed structure of the location of key elements (logo in the upper left corner, shopping cart in the upper right, etc.)
As we said before, given our tendency to lean towards prototypical elements, sites that are perceived as less visually demanding, they are considered more beautiful. Simple pages are easier to process and understand. If you also add the so-called mere exposure effect (inclination to familiar things), you will understand even better why many people choose the simplicity of web designs. A simple design should have a certain strategy and take into account the habits of users.
You should understand simplicity as something that is reliable, predictable and repeatable. People find it much easier to work with sites that work exactly as they expect them to.
Let's look deeper into the concept of simplicity
There are several reasons why you should choose simplicity and comfort for your visitorsv. Try to depersonalize yourself and think like your potential customer, who doesn't know your site like you do. Adding too many complicated features can increase your bounce rate and decrease your sales.
Simple = More understandable
Imagine that you find yourself in a place you don't know. Suddenly, your senses have a lot of information to process, and this can disorient you. The same principles apply to your online visitors, unless they are familiar/identified with the features you offer, the orientation or how you offer information to them. Therefore, your site must be user-friendly and free of all unnecessary additions. A visitor or potential customer must be able to quickly and easily find their way around. When a visitor opens a clear and transparent page, he is offered the opportunity to quickly find his way around and find what he is looking for.
Simple = extraordinary
Another reason to choose simplicity is to stand out from the crowd. Surprise the customer by making his experience with your site easier. Too many sites are still incredibly cluttered with things like irregular display of the navigation menu, excessive number of functions and add-ons that create a mess and the user gets completely lost in it all.
Simple = faster
Jednoduché stránky ponúkajú aj očividný benefit rýchlosti. Načítavajú sa rýchlejšie a vyžadujú menšie nároky na server. Obrázky a slajdery sú neoddeliteľnou súčasťou vizuálnej komunikácie. Stavili by sme sa, že napr. trváte na obrázkoch vo vysokom rozlíšení, ale skúšali ste si niekedy skontrolovať ako rýchlo sa načítava vaša stránka?
The visitor expects a page loaded in two seconds. Do you meet this requirement? If you can't do this, it can also affect your page ranking in google search and users are more likely to close your page before it even loads. You certainly don't want to play with the patience of your visitors, you may regret it later.
The size and number of images on your page have a critical impact on how quickly your page loads. Try optimizing the images and then test the speed again. The speed score will definitely increase.
Practical tips to simplify the site for new visitors:
- Remove any elements that you consider unnecessary. Focus on critical elements, use proven typography, turn unused space on the page into efficient ones and get rid of all elements that are just distractions. Find and get rid of, for example, unnecessary images, frames, shadows, widgets... anything you think is more on your page.
- Break up paragraphs of your content using subheadings. In this way, you will achieve that your texts will be more understandable and readable. This is especially true for visitors who only glance over the content. Your link should reach the user more easily.
- Clean up your sidebar. If you can't remove something, at least hide it. Not every piece of information is so important that it takes up space in your sidebar. Try to use a footer with items like "About Us" or "Contact".
- Use only one navigation menu, to avoid confusion. Think about making the menu easy to use and read. Use the submenu for individual sections. This will reduce the number of items and shorten the menu, which will result in easier navigation.
- Make sure the navigation menu is constant and doesn't change on subpages. Your visitor still wants to find everything quickly and easily.
