If you are planning to create a website or brochure for your business, one of the most important things on your list is design. As far as websites are concerned the time to grab attention is short and gorgeous design and graphics can be a great tool in achieving this. Here are a few important website design tips to aid you in your preliminary phases of the design process.
Visual Appeal
The design of your website should be in such a manner that it stops the visitor from flipping pages without even scanning them. Color of the website has a special role in creating the required visual appeal. Different colors attract different people and you need to learn about the color psychology before choosing the colors for your website. Fonts, however, must be in black or at least in sharp contrast to the background color so that it is readable. Font size should be 12 or 14 points or reading will be an annoying experience to the visitors.
Easy Navigation
Source : Miguel Buckenmeyer
Navigation is yet another very important criterion for websites. Enabling visitors feel the pleasure of navigating from a page to another has a psychological effect that increases the time spent on the website. Simplicity is the mantra of success when it comes to navigation in websites. The golden rule is that any important web page should be accessible within three clicks. A great example is Miguel Buckenmeyer’s website.
Loading time
One other important thing for a professional website design is the loading time. Although the internet speed has been increasing considerably, you must take care that your website loads quickly. Visitors often shun websites if they take long time to load. Heavy images and graphics can significantly slow down the loading speed of your website. This is why many avoid flash websites and reduce the use of JavaScript.
Text and Graphics
Although textual content does the most part from conveying messages to making your website rank high for keywords, they aren’t the only one. Everyone knows the adage ‘pictures speak louder than words’. You need to strike a balance between the textual content and images in order to avoid boring or monotonous web page. Including appropriate images can help you widen your range of visitors. Using video to present the message in an efficient way, however, see to it that the files aren’t heavy.
