Top 8 Vital Elements of Successful Web Design

0
129
Web Design
Web Design

Basically, users’ habits on the web are not remarkably different from those of customers in a store. Site visitors browse each new page, “scan” the text, and click on the first link that carries the promise of getting what they are looking for.

Most Internet users are looking for something interesting or valuable, clicking as fast as they can until something catches their attention. If the site doesn’t meet their expectations or they don’t find the information they need, they click the “back” button and continue their search.

For this reason, it is extremely important to put ourselves in the role of our customers and build a site oriented primarily toward them.

A very simple rule:

If your website cannot meet users’ expectations, the designer has done a lousy job, and your company is losing money.

So what makes a good website design? Certainly a well-employed ux graphic designer, so hire ux designer

  1. Intuitive structure.

Don’t make users think. According to Krug’s first law of usability, a website should be intuitive and logically structured.

When designing the site, we should eliminate any question marks – decisions the user would have to make, considering advantages, disadvantages or alternatives.

If the site’s navigation and architecture are not intuitive, the number of question marks increases. This causes a distraction for the visitor and distracts him from realizing the purpose for which the site was created.

A simple design is an effective design. A complicated structure is not what visitors want to see on your website.

Tips and techniques to consider:

  • grid-based layout
  • Randomly placing content on a page can end up with a haphazard, messy look. The solution is to use grid-based layouts, which organize content into sections, columns, and boxes, making the design aesthetically pleasing and intuitive.
  • F-pattern-based layouts (F-pattern design)
  • Eyetracking studies have proven that the human eye scans computer screens according to a pattern resembling the letter “F.” Users focus their gaze mainly on the top and left edge of the screen. This is valuable information and a hint to precisely place key information (elements) in these places.
  • Skillful use of blank spaces
  • White (blank) spaces on the page should not be a concern. Space helps avoid overwhelming content and makes it easier for users to browse and absorb information on the page.

2 Navigation (menu).

The navigation on your site acts as a roadmap. It determines whether navigating the site is easy and intuitive. In addition, it shows the user what is on the site that is relevant and where to find the information they need.

Practical rules:

  • Include only the necessary, most important pages in the top menu. The user at first contact will not be interested in the privacy policy and copyright information. It’s a good idea to add links to these sub-pages to the footer at the bottom of the page,
  • create groups of related links, placing them in order of importance from left to right,
  • keep page titles short and descriptive,
  • place the menu bar in an easy-to-locate place.
  • Step into your customers’ shoes and ask yourself:
  • How many steps (clicks) do I need to complete a goal on the site (registration, sign-up, form submission, purchase)?
  1. Typography

Make sure that the fonts used in the design will be legible and reflect the character of your company. Limiting yourself to two types here (main and secondary) is a good idea just to maintain consistency and reduce page load time.

In general, sans-serif fonts (fonts) such as Arial and Verdana will positively affect the readability of the text. Similarly, the degree should be large enough (at least 16px) so that the user will have no problem reading the content on the page.

Tips:

  • Ensure readability. Choose a font that does not distract from the text
  • and match the font to the nature of your site. Remember that a typeface evokes certain emotions and feelings. A font used on a restaurant website will not necessarily fit on a law firm website.
  • Make sure that the fonts used in the design match each other
  • using headings, mid-headings, and bold and bulleted lists. Skillfully use line spacing, text alignment (align mainly to the left), and space between paragraphs. All this will improve the readability of the text and encourage users to read.
  1. Colors

A well-chosen color palette can significantly improve the user experience of a website. Complementary colors create balance and overall harmony.

Using contrasting text and background colors will make reading easier. Bright, vibrant colors should be used sparingly in areas where you want to focus the user’s eye (buttons, calls to action, etc.).

5 Images

Did you know that the human brain perceives and processes images much faster than plain text?

A picture is worth more than a thousand words. Choosing the right images will arouse specific emotions you care about. Also, consider infographics and videos, which are extremely effective in communication and significantly affect the time spent on your site.

6 Responsive website.

Users will access your site through many devices – from smartphones to desktops.

For this reason, your site must display well enough on each of these devices.

Make sure your design is responsive, which will adapt to the screen width of a given device.

7. creative personality

A technique that helps a lot in describing your target audience is the persona “target group,” “users,” or “segment,” all of which sound pretty cool and unfriendly. And yet we are talking about people, not dry statistics and numbers.

In such a situation, it helps to create a distinctive character for each audience, the so-called persona. We choose her name, surname, photo, profession, interests, etc. In other words, we describe her as if she were a person sitting here and now, next to us.

For example, for our audience, which we defined as “young mothers,” we can create a persona of Joasia Bartkowska, who lived in Warsaw and gave birth to little Zosia a year ago. Joasia is now returning to work after maternity leave, and as a result, she is looking for products that our site can provide for her.

Let’s try to empathize with our heroine’s situation. Let’s think about what problems she might have, what is important to her, and what she might be looking for on a site like ours.

This may seem unnecessary or not very serious fun, but it helps to better understand the potential audience. Such a description is much more malleable, stimulates imagination, and facilitates empathy, proving invaluable at many further stages.

8. create a website start with defining the purpose of the website

Now it’s time for us to define the purpose of our site. Of course, as is often the case, the creation of the site itself is sometimes the main purpose of its creation. After all, in a sense, it’s “inappropriate” not to have your own website anymore, right? However, it is worth being more specific.

Our site will be more effective when we define a clear goal that it is supposed to fulfill at the very beginning of its creation. This main priority should influence the entire design and content.

We will design a site differently, only to tell about our offer. Still, it will not be possible to buy anything there, and we will approach the creation of a site combined with an online store differently, where the main goal will be to encourage visitors to add something to the cart and make a payment.

THE POSSIBLE GOALS CAN BE MANY, SUCH AS

  • data acquisition,
  • consent to send an offer,
  • contacting a consultant,
  • downloading materials,
  • creating an account

If we do not know what we want to achieve and what purpose the site is supposed to fulfill, it is much more difficult to construct it correctly.

It is worth setting such a priority for the entire site globally and for each subpages separately. After all, the contact subpage has a slightly different task than the tab with a description of our team.