3 key characteristics of effective web design
Many times a customers first interaction with your brand is through your website. This means that having an effective, captivating and functional website is crucial in keeping customers and bringing in new ones. You can win or lose customers solely based on your website! So here are three quick tips to make sure that you have a website that will win consumers over every time.
Simple is better
There are a lot of cool effects and graphics that can be implemented to make sure a catchy and interactive website. But remember that when it comes to effective web design, less is more!
Having too many options can be overwhelming in almost any scenario, but this is definitely true for web design. Giving customers too many options can often be a distraction that will turn them away from your site. When a customer visits your site, they often have come with a purpose. Unless your site is a gallery to display graphic design, it’s rare that a customer is there just to admire. While fancy layouts can be nice to look at, you want to give the customer exactly what they came for: information about your brand and your products and services.
Give your current website a once over. Do you have any extraneous information that is truly not necessary? Get rid of it! Simple and sleek is always the way to go. Make sure that the navigation of your site is clear and concise. Some of the best design layouts are the simplest ones. Using white space to your advantage can give your site a clean, sophisticated, professional look. While all white space, also known as negative space, doesn’t have to be white, you don’t want to clutter up the open spaces with too many elements.
A picture is worth a thousand words
It’s a cliché because it’s true! Pictures can tell a bigger picture or relay information or an idea much quicker than large blocks of text. Effective web design will use photos to help guide users through the website. They can act as a guide for action with customers browsing your site. How you frame your photos with your text can be a crucial in the visual appeal of your website.
When it’s time to choose images for your site, remember that quality matters! Ensure that all images are high resolution and fit with the theme and style of your website. To give your website a more familiar look, make sure to incorporate images of people, as our eyes are more inclined naturally to recognize faces. Be careful in your use of stock photos, which can often come off as unnatural and too staged.
Utilize infographics when you can instead of large blocks of texts. These graphics are a great way to grab and keep a readers attention. Most visitors are going to skim over the content of your website rather than read it in great detail. If you can give them condensed information with visual appeal, all the better!
The importance of aesthetics
Great content is important, but it’s also crucial to have a site that is visually appealing. Even if you have great information, you could be losing potential customers because of the way you’re presenting it. Three of the most important design elements for your site are colors, balance and typography.
It’s well known by now that certain colors can produce emotional responses. For example, if you want to give your site an upbeat, energized feeling you might incorporate warmer colors, like pinks or yellows. For a more calm, tranquil feeling, you might use cool tones, like blues or purples. Many fast food places use the color red because it has been proven to make people more hungry.
Your choice in color palette can be almost as important as the content you’re putting on your website. You want to choose colors that compliment each other, so that your website isn’t too jarring or distracting. Put your focus on colors within the same family, and use bright, bold colors for your navigation or buttons you want to bring attention to. Finding colors that compliment your logo would be a great place to start.
But remember that simplicity also applies to colors. Using too many can be overwhelming to customers so it’s recommended to not use more than five different colors, and sticking to three or four is ideal.
Stay tuned for more web design tips from our designers at Immersion! Need help with your site? Contact us for a consultation.
