Website design is about speaking to your end user in a positive and encouraging way where you may be trying to change their point of view or sell them a product or service.
The work of a <strong>web design agency</strong> is precise and every choice is deliberate from font, layout to colours and even the way CSS is written. Everything has a purpose and therefore the key question which runs throughout the design process should be what does this website say about me and by proxy what does it say about the client?
Money Matters Most
One huge giveaway which suggests you (or your client) cares more about money than offering a quality user experience and good content is modal window adverts. Modal window and lightbox style adverts are the modern-day pop-up and just like they’re predecessor they’re intensely annoying. Modal window advertisements are highly intrusive and can interrupt and damage the overall user experience.
There are less obtrusive ways of including advertisements such as through design strategies or adverts that give the choice of being skipped or ignored. Your design should put the customer experience first and the content should be positioned as the most important feature, not the advertisements. Putting advertisements first only serves to show the user that money matters more than their experience.
Readability Ignorance
White space is key to successful web design and the lack of it gives the impression that readability isn’t something you’re concerned with. White space is a hugely valuable design tool and is essential for making your content readable. Cramped up, narrow-spaced text with no white space is not going to get the results you want.
Your content is worth reading and therefore you need to aid readability by ensuring white space is utilised adequately otherwise users will get the impression you don’t care about content.
Personalised 404 Error Pages Work
Mistakes with URLs are common, usually when you move content, links are no longer valid or due to temporary technical issues. When these situations arise designer needs to put together useful 404 error pages. The page needs to state more than ‘this is an error page’ and gives the user something from their experience. Useful 404 Error pages show the user you care.
Features of your useful error page can include:
- Search form – to help the user find what they’re actually looking for.
- Contact information – so the user can notify you of the error or ask for an answer to their query.
- Auto-suggest alternatives – so the user can be directed to similar content on offer.
Aesthetically Challenged
Colour contrast is another thing designers like to play with and there’s a fine balance to be found between what looks great and what aids readability. Poor contrast between the background and foreground gives users the feeling that you care more about aesthetics than their experience and the text’s readability.
Visually pleasing content is essential and therefore the colour scheme needs to aid this not fight against it.
No Engagement, No Interest
Your design should be interactive and actively encourage user involvement. You want to put across the message that you value user feedback and therefore involve them in your online experience. From contact forms to support forums these features makes your design more engaging and therefore demonstrate a clear interest in what users have to say.
There are some of the key impressions your users will get from your web design projects, so if you use any of these techniques, act on them quickly to improve the overall user experience.
