Web Design Science

Simplicity

Another way to make a website more appealing to users is by having a simple layout. Having a complex design may cause a website to seem confusing or annoying to navigate through. Thus creating negative feelings and a high possibility of leaving the web page.

Also, if the design is unfamiliar — i.e., the site has low prototypicality — users judge it as uglier, even if it’s simple.

When a business or other enterprise’s future depends on customers’ satisfaction and return, having a website that makes users feel comfortable may increase the website’s return traffic. Hence, a familiar and straightforward layout may cause users to feel more optimistic about the website. Simplicity is associated with color, too, for example:

• Red is a high-energy color that can make a webpage vibrant and bold. Orange can symbolize different things depending on its use: happiness, enthusiasm, and vitality.
• Yellow can sometimes be seen as deceitful but also youthful and optimistic. Green, one of the easiest colors for the eye to process, is often used for nature or environment-related websites.
• Blue can make a site seem open and trustworthy and is a color that is often used for web pages.
• Purple is often associated with royalty and wealth because the dye for this color used to be so expensive that only royalty could wear purple. The color pink is often seen as innocent, affectionate, and exciting.

Organization

It is helpful to organize content to have users notice the most important parts of a website’s content. Studies have shown that users pay the most attention to items near the top and bottom of a list. This is because humans’ frontal lobes, associated with planning and logic, contain items in short-term memory and only hold around seven items.

In addition, a reader’s attention span and retention are lowest while reading the middle of a list versus the top or bottom of a list. This can also be applied to navigation because readers’ attention will be focused on the two ends of a list, and they may not pay very much attention to the middle. Thus, having content organized so that the most important elements are located near the top or bottom of a list will increase the probability of being read by users.

Navigation Bars

Navigation bars are essential and one of the first things a user will look at. You would want to customize them to the type of website you are making. A navigation bar’s primary purpose is to minimize user frustration. We’ve all been in the position where we can’t find what we’re looking for and end up just wanting to throw the computer altogether.

The customer abandoning the website due to frustration is not what you want. Something you could add to avoid this in your navigation bar is a search bar. A search bar will allow customers to find what they are looking for, enhancing satisfaction quickly.

Does White Space Matter?

First, I’ll tell you what white space is. White space seems to be one of the most overlooked web design elements, but it is also one of the most important. White space is between your graphics, your margins, and anything left unmarked. This is vital to your website because it gives the user’s eyes a break from everything going on.

White space will also allow your website not to look cluttered and much cleaner. This is a good and easy way to leave a good impression on your users. You never want your website to look cluttered. It will be hard to focus on what the website is actually about.

Knowing the Demographic

It is essential to know your user demographic to decide how you want your website to be designed properly. If you are a child’s website with games, you want to ensure your website is fun, interactive, and colorful. A business website should air on the side of modern and conservative.

When you have a well-established company, you should already know all the demographics. If expanding your demographic is something you are looking into, you can adjust your website. When doing this, I encourage you to keep in mind that you don’t want to lose the customers you already have. It would help if you changed your website’s designs to accommodate multiple demographics.

Website Colors

Arguably, one of the most critical elements of successful web design is the colors used for a website. Colors in web design have been a much-discussed topic over the years, and they play a significant role in the feelings readers experience when they visit a website. For example, cool colors and warm colors can make users feel very differently:

Cooler colors (blues, greens, purples) often provide an inviting, professional, and relaxed feeling. In contrast, it can be used to give a very cold and unfriendly feeling as well.

Warmer colors (yellows, oranges, reds) are soothing warm, and give a sense of creativity and give off negative feelings such as anger and stress.

Color families representing the type of website or business will allow web designers to influence readers based on the feelings their website evokes and can make users feel comfortable, creative, or positive.

Reactions to color

Using specific colors for a website, web designers can make their website evoke particular reactions and feelings.

• Red is a high-energy color that can make a webpage vibrant and bold. Orange can symbolize different things depending on its use: happiness, enthusiasm, and vitality.
• Yellow can sometimes be seen as deceitful but also youthful and optimistic. Green, one of the easiest colors for the eye to process, is often used for nature or environment-related websites.
• Blue can make a site seem open and trustworthy and is a color that is often used for web pages.
• Purple is often associated with royalty and wealth since the dye for this color used to be so expensive that only royalty could wear purple.
• The color pink is often seen as innocent, affectionate, and exciting.

Colors that impulse shoppers

As for examples in the application, for an e-commerce site, you can appeal to impulse shoppers using reds and oranges, royal blues, and blacks. These colors showcase a sense of urgency and sales. If you’re targeting budget shoppers and tapping into the current wave of frugal shoppers, green, dark, and navy blues are also used. In addition, traditional buyers can be targeted with paler and softer color pallets.

Clothing retailers traditionally use Sky blues and shades of pink as they give a sense of calm and tranquility. For example, by using colors related to the purpose of a website, web designers can better appeal to users and create a more successful website.

The brain remembers better based on colors.

Studies show that the brain can remember more items if they’re a different color. So pick one color for ‘action items’ such as clickable links and another for passive objects such as informational text and general copy. Different colors for accents can increase the likelihood of buttons and essential information being seen.

Another study shows that standout colors aren’t just remembered more. A standout color can increase the probability of a link being clicked by 60%.

Choosing a color that sticks out from the rest of the design can draw your user’s attention. Specifically, contrasting colors (especially red) can increase the likelihood of information being seen or clicked. One study found that a simple change from green to red action buttons increased their sign-ups by 34%. It may have to do with contrast. Green may match better with the rest of your site, but that can be a detriment. It may blend in a little too well.

Using accent colors can help a website succeed and draw attention to essential web pages.

Familiar words and content

The language used in web design can also affect the user’s perception of a website. Using familiar, everyday words can help users feel more comfortable and open. The temporal lobe, responsible for language comprehension and meaning, thrives on typical and common phrases. Avoid long sentences, jargon, or fancy words that have the potential to make a reader doubt their intelligence and are likely to lead to inaction.

A language that caters to the website’s target audience can help increase users’ satisfaction. The system should speak the users’ language, with words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the user. If the vocabulary and wording are friendly to the user, they may feel more comfortable. This especially pertains to e-commerce sites, as users should feel as “at home” as possible to sell products and increase profits.

User experience

Another aspect of web design that can make a big difference in user experience is the font of a website. For example, serif fonts (fonts with feet, like Times New Roman or Cambria) can invoke feelings of tradition and professionalism. In contrast, sans serif fonts (without feet, like Arial or Calibri) can indicate a modern and cutting-edge style.

Specialty fonts, like cursive or fonts with fun shapes, can be enjoyable and stand out in small doses but can be tedious and confusing to read for a large amount of text. Specialty fonts are a good choice for accents or navigation bars but not the most advisable selection for the main font of a website.

Related to font style is the way that type is presented on a webpage. Leading (the space between lines) and kerning (the distance between letters) are also important. Large leading with lots of white space between lines makes the copy feel airier and easier to read; little leading gives a crowded feeling, and it is hard to read more than one paragraph at a time.

Also, evaluating different characteristics of font and design can help a website evoke specific feelings in users and be easier to read and understand.

Accessibility

If you’re unfamiliar with designing and building your websites, there are other ways to create one. Many online resources allow you to choose from pre-made templates that only require you to fill in your content. This is a good option until you decide to invest in hiring a web designer or learning yourself. As your company expands, though, I would advise you to hire a team. When you hire a team, they are trained to know what a well-designed website is, which is what you want.

Accessibility to your website also entitles your contact information. If the user has further questions, you want to make sure they can contact you quickly. The easiest way is to have a contact form on your page. Customers can put in their contact information and directly contact you. Some websites may only have an email address and phone number. I would suggest steering clear of this and putting in a contact form, as it makes the website look much more professional.

Final words on Web Design Science

It is essential to have a properly designed website that compliments the content on the web pages and their purpose. After all, who would want to be lumbered with an ineffective and lousy website? According to a recent study, it takes users a mere 1/20th of a second to judge the visual appeal of your website.

Also, other studies have shown that users are more likely to stay on and trust sites with better visual designs. Hence, having a well-designed website can help increase traffic and cause more users to read more content.

Web design is the key to having a successful website.