Good design is essential to a business’s website. The website serves as the face of its online presence. When a potential customer visits the website, it should immediately capture their attention because they usually don’t linger. People on the internet are visual, so outstanding design is the key to an online consumer’s heart.
It’s not only website design that matters when a visitor is on the page. Their experience has a lot to do with communication. What they do next relies on the degree of communication that exists within the page. There are different elements to this.
Elements of Design
This is the text, images, icons, styles, etc. These are the more apparent objects onscreen. These are important because they’re the most noticeable elements on a website. The following are their functions:
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Text, Titles, and Headers.
The text conveys the content of the page as well as its title. Through text, the business can tell their story. Titles and headers make the text more readable because they divide the main points of the story. Most importantly, words convey the name of the business.
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Images.
When people don’t want to read, their eyes gravitate to an image. Additionally, the image reduces the tediousness of reading. Therefore, it’s a quicker and easier way to convey the business’s message.
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Icons.
They replace labels. Because people are visual, using icons instead of labels can be more pleasing to the eyes. They are also economic of space. Icons can be used for social media links because visitors can immediately recognize the logos, instead of a text that won’t occur to them as fast.
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Colors and Design Style.
Colors should not be chosen randomly because they’re part of the branding and personality of the business. The same goes for the design style. It’s not enough to follow the trends in design and color integration because it affects the brand’s image. For example, it would be unusual for a formal website to employ quirky colors and styles of pop culture.
What are You Trying to Convey?
All these elements work together to help the business communicate with visitors. They may want to build trust. To do so, they can include reviews. Reviews are crucial because 9 out of 10 online consumers check the reviews before buying an item. This is because they trust reviews more than flowery advertising from the company itself. On the shop page, quoting a one-liner from a review can do the job. It will pique the interest of the visitor, urging them to explore the shop.
Another example would be the “about” page of the site. This is where the business tells their story—how they began, who are the founders, and the business at the present. This page is prone to blocks of text. Using pictures can interpret a part of the story to lessen the word count. If they began as a small shop, the page can include a picture of the shop. Then, as the story progresses, they see the current shop to illustrate how much they have grown.
The Landing Page
The landing page does not exist to sit still and look pretty. It works hard, not only with two hands but with eight tentacles all at once. It provides a glimpse of products and services, the story, reviews, and other things present on the website. It’s like a one-stop-shop of all the information the visitors need to know about the business.
Right when they open the website, the landing page should capture their attention and make them stay. There is a necessary emphasis on “make them stay” because a website can capture their attention but then close the tab after a few seconds.
Therefore, give them a reason not to leave so soon. The landing page should give a clear definition of what the business is and what it offers. A website that sells sunglasses should say so on the landing page, either via images or text.
The page needs to present the call to action clearly. After visitors process all that information on one page, what happens next? Visitors should be able to locate the next steps without making their life difficult. The button or link can be after the text or accompanying a subsection.
More Than Just Pretty
Business websites can be as pretty as a website can get. However, designers should not lose the true essence and function of a website. A website should be able to communicate with its visitors. It should compel them to navigate the page until they eventually avail of the products and services of the business. Therefore, websites should aim for pretty with substance.