Your website isn’t just a source of information. It’s a reflection of who you are and what you stand for.

Not sure where to begin when designing a website in photoshop? If you’re trying to tackle graphic design yourself, luckily there are some ways to make things easier.

Here are some expert hacks to make your photoshop website design project better. You’ll be amazed by the difference some simple hacks can make.

You have Photoshop open and you want to make a website, but aren’t sure how to make it look good. Not to worry! These 7 hacks are here to save the day!

1. Plan Your Vision

Believe it or not, the most obvious, yet often taken for granted, tip starts before you’ve even opened up Photoshop. The planning phase of your project will save you a lot of time in the long run.

You can begin your project by first sketching out your designs and layout on a piece of paper. It’s quick and easy but seriously effective. You can even print out some webpage templates then use some basic drawing skills to try out some quick designs.

Then it’ll be easier to translate these into your Photoshop design.

2. Set It Up Right

When you first start a new Photoshop document be sure that you use some of these settings. You want to be sure you are working with pixel units. This is the standard fixed unit for web design. 

You also need to create a grid system that follows specific settings for your Rulers from the Preferences dialog window. Click on Units & Rulers and then set your fields to the following:

Rulers: pixels

Type: points

Width: 180 points

Gutter: 12 points

You can make your rulers visible or not by toggling with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmd + R. Another great shortcut to memorize is F8 which opens the Info Panel. This provides useful information on the tool you have currently selected. 

Don’t forget to turn on snapping which will help you keep everything perfectly lined up and looking professional. You can do this by going to View>Snap and then View>Snap to>Guides. 

Starting with the proper setup makes the rest of your work a whole lot easier to complete.

3. Name Your Layers

As you begin to build your website in Photoshop, you’re going to find that the number of layers and subfolders builds up quickly. It’s important to keep all of your layers organized.

Without properly naming your layers it’s going to be extra hard to search for different parts of your website later on. With the right naming convention, you’ll be able to jump back to a specific page and edit it whenever needed.

This is also helpful if you are working with other people who aren’t sure where to find things within your design. They’ll be able to locate pages and design elements much easier with clear naming.

4. Subtle & Consistent

When it comes to building your Photoshop website design, making subtle designs and color changes goes a long way. Too many colors, gradients, and harsh drop shadows can make a design feel too busy.

Your audience will appreciate a simpler design that only uses a couple of colors. You should also be sure that the colors you are using are on-brand.

Make sure you match the exact colors used in your logo and brand throughout the rest of your website. This can be done by finding the hex values of your brand colors. 

5. Get Professional Help

Sure, it’s possible to build a website yourself but will it be as good as a professional? Probably not. If you really want your website to not only look amazing but also offer awesome navigation, then it’s worth investing in a local web designer.

There’s no replacement for a web designer’s touch. They’ll be able to create something that will be visually appealing as well as functional. Plus, it will save you the time of having to learn all the complexities of Photoshop, which your designer has been working with for years.

6. Increase Your History 

When you’re working in Photoshop and make a mistake, you can luckily go backward in time and start over. However, there are only so many steps back that Photoshop will save in its History panel.

Luckily, you can increase the number of steps that are saved by going to Preferences>Performance and increasing the value of History States. This could save you in the future!

7. Focus Your Workspace

Another trick to improving your workflow is to focus your tools on the work at hand. This can be done by streamlining Photoshop’s Workspace. Do this by going to Window>Workspace>Graphic and Web.

This will ensure that all the available tools are what you are likely to use for web design. 

Next, you can go to Preferences>Performance>History & Cache and click on Web/UI Design. This is going to change your cache settings so they favor smaller files with multiple layers. 

When you’re completed, exit the preferences, close all documents and press the T button on your keyboard. You’ll notice the font menu appears at the top of your screen. Whatever you set here will become the default font for any new documents.

This will save you time searching for your brand fonts each time you start a new page!

More Photoshop Website Design Tips

Now that you’ve learned some basic Photoshop website design tricks, you’re ready to start having fun with your design and layout. We hope this article helps you begin to tackle your new website!

Want more Photoshop tips and tricks to hone your graphic design skills? Check out our blog for expert advice.