ace steve jobs Once said, “Design is not just what it looks and feels like. Design is how it works.. “Functionality and convenience, not visual design, determine the success or failure of a website. The page visitor is the only person seeking information about a product or service.
With a click of the mouse, the visitor decides, user-centered design is the must for success and profit-oriented web design.
We will focus on the main elements of web design, lateral thinking, and results-oriented approaches to effective web design that can lead to more sophisticated decisions and, as a result, simplify the process of understanding the information presented.
Before looking at the guidelines for effective web design, it’s important to know what users think when they interact with a website.
User behavior when interacting with a website is similar to that of a customer interacting with a store. Visitors take a look at each page, text and images. They boil down to clickable links that capture your interests.
Most users when they visit a web page are looking for specific information, product or service.
- Users like quality: If a web page provides quality content, it is compromised by the ads and design of the web page. It must be remembered that a combination of good design and quality content is needed to generate relevant traffic on the web page.
- Most users scan the web page: When a user visits a web page, they scan the web page for information that meets their needs.
- Web users are impatient and what instant gratification: If the content of the web page is not correctly structured and if the visitor cannot obtain the required information within the first three seconds. The chances of users leaving the website then increase.
- Users do not make the best decisions: The web page visitors do not go page by page to search for the required information, rather they scan the web page and the link that satisfies their requirement and jump to it.
- Web users follow their individual intuitive feeling: Most of the users scan the web page instead of reading line by line. According to information architect Steve Krug, it’s mainly because users don’t care. “If we find something that works, we stick with it. We don’t care if we understand how things work, as long as we can use them. If your audience is going to act like you’re designing a complex design, then create a great, thought-provoking design.” to users”.
Now, having seen the behavior of the users, next we are going to make a checklist of web design principles.
- Don’t make users think too much: According to Krug’s first law of usability, the web page should be self-explanatory, it should contain answers to most of the questions that users might get after browsing the web page. If the navigation and architecture of the website are not well designed, it will be difficult for the user to understand how the system works. A well thought out and structured design, together with clear and concise quality content, directs the user towards using the services or making a purchase. Thus, a well-planned structure reduces the mental load. Once this is achieved, it will be easy for the user to navigate the website.
- Use minimal fill-in forms: In every project designed to meet specific user needs, try to keep user requirements to a minimum. First-time visitors will like that they don’t have to fill out lengthy forms to test your service. Basically remove all barriers, one user registration using a long fill form is enough to reduce incoming traffic.
- Divert users’ attention to your USP: A website contains both static and dynamic content, some aspects of the user interface are more attractive than others. Attractive content, images and videos should be used to attract customers to your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
- Strive for an attractive, content-rich interface: Modern web designers focus more on the visually appealing interface and neglect the architecture of the web page and the content. A good combination of design, layout and content will drive more quality traffic to the web page.
- Strive for simplicity and effective writing: The content of the web page must be clear, concise and properly structured. As it helps the user to find the required information easily.
- Innovate but don’t distract: An impressive web design uses innovation and creativity. Use blank spaces or negative spaces as per the requirement. A white space is the area of the page that is empty, it is mainly used between images and videos.
- Aesthetically attractive: objective according to the niche: Each industry or segment serves specific customers based on factors such as age, geography, and gender. The design of the web page should be explicitly designed to target the selected niche.
- Build credibility and trust online: Today everyone is present on social platforms, both users and commercial companies. Use your website to build trust and credibility on social platforms. A testimonial from existing customers is a great way to do this.
- Optimized website: The web page should be optimized to load faster without compromising the quality factor.
- Responsive web design: Due to the increase in portable devices and data penetration. Mobile devices are the main source of website traffic. Web pages must be responsive to load on any device, regardless of screen size.
Therefore, a web page should be designed keeping in mind the needs of the user and the business. Use these web design principles to get an aesthetically appealing and results-oriented website.
