Design

Web design, like all other forms of design, is doing its job well when it communicates effectively to the viewer. Web design, however, quickly diverges from other traditional forms of visual communication through the virtually unlimited ability to connect to and display additional data and media on demand. It’s this complex interlinking that has created the necessity for good user interface design (UI).

Having the greatest content in the world means nothing if you can’t find it quickly and easily. Attractive, easy-to-follow navigation, combined with superior back-end technology, creates a fluid online experience that allows visitors to accomplish goals and leave a site happy.

Things to think about

Knowing your audience is a huge advantage when trying to communicate in all media. Before creating any of the content for a project, the full spectrum of potential viewers should be well thought out. Using the correct “tone” – both in the graphic look and site text – can quickly confirm to a visitor that they are in the correct place to start accomplishing their goals. A quick peek at home page bounce rates will let you know if the feel of a site is working.

Designing to the goals of your visitors creates a smooth user experience and higher ROI. Strategically positioning your graphic and navigation elements to work like road signs will keep visitors on the goal path. Utilizing design tools like size, color and balance, along with descriptive call-to-action text, will communicate the current location, the page purpose and the next best step to take.

A site may have five pages or 5,000 pages, but the odds are pretty good that the visitor is only looking for one of those pages. Don’t send your visitors on a data scavenger hunt. Give higher visual priority to goal-oriented links. Plan for less priority page areas where you can include SEO-specific links. On pages that do no lead users to their end goal, provide descriptive navigation to quickly get a roaming visitor back on track.

In a competitive market, a web searcher can easily identify many relevant websites and visit each in rapid succession. What a searcher often finds are a bunch of sites that all look and sound alike. Why? Because a common design trap site owners fall into is only looking at their industry for inspiration. Researching web sites in completely unrelated industries can help a design project flow in fun, unexpected directions, which gives your site a creative advantage.