Web Design 101
Who’s looking anyway?
It’s been said we only have 5 seconds to convince a visitor of the credibility of your site. For the most part, this is true. The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab has done studies on website credibility based off of the visitors. About 46.7% of visitors quickly evaluate a site’s credibility based off of its visual design. Still, you might ask yourself, “Isn’t the content the most important information on a website?” Yes it is, but if the design isn’t professional or appealing, why would a viewer trust your content? As much as our mothers told us not to, we judge a book by it’s cover everyday.
The Visual Flow
A visitor’s eyes will follow the same controlled path every time they visit a new website. First they will start at the top left, moving to the top right. Then they will move to the bottom left and finally to the bottom right. This is not that different from how you would read a book. We’ve been trained from birth to take in information the same way. With this knowledge, the importance of information should be laid out based off of this path. First, you start with your logo. It tells the visitor who you are. Then you move across the navigation, telling the visitor what directions they might want to take. Finally, their eyes move to the content. Most important comes first, left to right. This is the best way to get your content to the visitor in the correct order. After all, you wouldn’t want to tell a reader the ending of your book before they have read the character build up.
The Theory of Color
Color is an important visual aesthetic that can be overlooked. It’s not just about a company’s identity, but the look and feel they want to portray with their website. Let’s back up to the basics of design school. Back when your teacher was droning on about the importance of color with misinterpreted collage projects. Sure, cement glue and random colored objects are fun to play with, but there was a hidden message. There are 2 pleasing color combinations your teacher was hoping you’d walk away with, Analogous and Complementary. Analogous colors are colors that are next to each other in the color wheel. Complementary colors are colors across from each other in the color wheel. Both of these choices are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Color temperature (warm vs. cool) is another fundamental method important to designing sites. Cool colors sit in the background of a design while warm colors are pushed to the front. This is an effective way to control the importance of content. Now, colors are all fine and dandy but designers should keep this in mind: The human eye can only comprehend 5 colors at a time. More than 5 colors will ultimately leave some colors lost in the grey.
Textures, Shapes and Depth
Do you think a brick would be as interesting if it was completely smooth and one color? Well, the answer is no… just in case you were wondering. Texture is a new wave hitting websites near you. This brings new elements to the visual aesthetics of websites. A great designer who has taken this to heart is Sarah Parmenter. In her designs, the type of shapes control the visual aesthetics of visitors. People favor elements that are more round than ones with sharp angles, because roundness makes visitors feel welcome. Another visual aesthetic is depth. This worthy element shows dimension with the use of lighting. I’m sure we are all aware of our old friend, Mr. Drop Shadow. Although he can make any design show depth, be careful. Subtle drop shadows will always win against overcompensation. They should be used as accents, not the main focus of the design. So let’s take a moment to say thanks to CSS3, for making life easier!
The Take-a-Way Experience
The biggest win for a website is that the visitor will remember the experience. So what’s the importance of this? Well, what would be better than a returning visitor? How about that visitor suggesting your site to someone else? The experience should be one that is captivating in the way it displays it’s content. Below are 3 great examples of user experiences:
Playtend
Google Play Music Tour
Lost Worlds Fairs
Not all clients want or can afford these types of user experiences, but you can still accomplish this idea without all the creative time. Simplicity, done right, can achieve the same goals. Now, I’m not saying this is easy, because it isn’t. A visitor can still experience fun, playful and charismatic feelings without the time-consuming development and creative brain squalling. Simply put, designing the experience in a simplistic way that still shows the feelings a company wants to portray will go along way.
