Website Design & Development
Have you thought about all the comprehensive elements of web design and how this affects the visitor experience? With this in mind, whenever you design a website there are a myriad of things to keep in mind all with the upmost attention to the user experience.
In the first place, you need to know the purpose of your website. For example, are you offering a service or selling a product? Once that is defined, ask yourself if your landing page clarifies your purpose. The user needs to know upon clicking on your site exactly what your website is about and what your purpose is. The average person browses many websites and judges them quickly. As you choose images make sure they make an impression, reinforce the identity of your business, and keep the user on your site long enough to perform the action you desire. Most importantly, your “Call to Action” needs to be a very clear statement. What is your ultimate goal for the visitor to do? Correspondingly, “Call to Action” buttons such as “ Shop Now”, “Make an Appointment ”, “Book a Room”, “Buy”, etc. tell the user exactly what to do to reach your end goal.
Most compelling evidence suggests that less is more. You may be inclined to think the user is in need of lots of content, but it must be remembered that attention spans vary. Most users scan through a website and decide if they will stay or move on in a very short time. With this in mind, you must look at the concept of readability. Is your font large enough for visitors to easily view your site? Is there enough contrast between your text and the background color? Are your fonts fairly consistent throughout your site? Specifically, too many different fonts confuse and distract the user. Can the user explore your website casually with simple links and directions?
Since we know users just tend to scan and not read it is important to think about design and how information is presented. It is best practice to break up text and leave white or contrasting space delineating what is important. But using bold text for an important statement leaving white space around it will naturally catch the user’s eye.
Indenting and italicizing help define text and catch the user‘s attention when surrounded by white space. It must be remembered that people read from left to right and from top to bottom. Naturally the eye is drawn to the top left, so accordingly this is where your most important information should go. Specifically, this should be your logo and business name. You may choose for this area to take up space to draw the user in even more.
Nowadays, more people use a mobile device than a desktop, so it has become essential to have a mobile version of your site. Inasmuch as you would like to include everything you offer on your website your mobile version must be simplified. For example, your visitors should be able to shop with limited clicks. In fact you may also need to scale back your menu.
To summarize briefly, there are key points to remember when building or redesigning your website:
- Make sure your landing page clarifies your purpose
- Have a clear “Call to Action.”
- Engage the user so they remain on your site.
- Readability
- Mobile friendly version
- Less is more
- Carefully select your images.
At Next Door Creations, we specialize in web design. We will incorporate all of these facets and more to design or redesign your website, to ultimately bring your users to accordingly fulfill your purpose.