4 Web Design Principles for a Better Website User Experience
Creating a great user experience for your website visitors is essential to get them to stay a while, look through your offerings, convert them into a lead and turn that into a successful sale. Fortunately, there are tried and true methods for creating a website that is easy to use, easy to navigate and easy on the eyes. Here are a few web design principles that will aid in creating a website that is user-friendly and works to help your business accomplish its goals:
Establishing what you want your website to accomplish helps your web designer determine the elements that require prominence in your web design. Whether you want your web visitors to sign up for your newsletter, call to schedule an appointment, book a service ASAP or learn more about your products, knowing what you want is the first step to getting it. By informing your web design team of your overarching business goals, they then have the knowledge to creatively incorporate your calls to action and highlight your key offerings to put your best foot forward.
Creating visual hierarchy helps draw your visitor’s attention to the elements that matter most to your business, in addition, to helping them sort through information in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Imagine having every line of text appear in a different font on your website. This would not only look extremely cluttered, but it would also derail your users’ ability to read through the text because their eyes and brain would have to readjust to every line.
Visual hierarchy goes beyond font choices, though, it includes:
Size: Use size to help guide users to key components of your web page, for example, creating a larger call to action button when requesting visitors CALL your business.
Colour: This not only adds personality to your website but also helps organize information. For example, using colours helps differentiate headings and subheadings to break up text and visually cue readers to vital information.
Contrast: When something stands out like a lime amongst a bin of lemons, then our attention is naturally drawn to it. Your web designer will use contrast to highlight those features you want your web visitor to act on.
Whitespace: The spacing between elements is just as important as the space that contains a bunch of stuff. It’s the spaces in between “stuff” that allow the design to breathe and the words or images to hold space and get users' attention. Too much of anything is just that – too much. A great designer will use whitespace selectively to create contrast and a coherent visual flow.
Website visitors are accessing your website via their mobile phones, desktops or tablet devices. The purpose of a responsive web design is to detect what device your website is being viewed on and rearrange itself or respond accordingly to show the best layout for that device. This gives your website visitor an optimal viewing mode that makes it easier to read the text on your website and navigate through it. Do your users a favour and yourself one, and make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
Effective calls-to-action (CTA) are essential for boosting your website conversions. Your CTAs are those things that you want your web visitors to do, whether it’s to call your office or learn more or submit their email. Whatever your goals, your web design should take into consideration how to highlight these key messages. Using colour, catchy text, contrast and size, you want your CTAs to grab your users' attention and entice them to click on through.
Speaking of CTAs, you can contact us for help with understanding any of the above web design principles! Our team will be happy to meet with you to develop the converting website of your dreams. Reach out for a free quote today!
