Commonalities in good web design

I’m currently thinking of redoing my blog design, and just started another, Fish Crackers.

And I want it to be usable and cool and web 2ish and wonderful and aesthetically impressive, of course.

Here’s a great start for seeing what kind of design is hot right now. But not just hot – also good. Even great.

Here are the key factors:

– Simple layout
– 3D effects, used sparingly
– Soft, neutral background colours
– Strong colour, used sparingly
– Cute icons, used sparingly
– Plenty of whitespace
– Nice big text

The first, I think, is one of the hardest.