What we can Learn from Children
Remember the time in school where we would draw pictures of what ever sprung to mind, all for the sake of being artistic. Whether it be a doodle or something you drew in art class we can all agree that those days were fun. We then got to a stage in life where art was combined with function, and somewhere along the way we have become “squares” who don’t know the meaning of fun! This way of thinking has sadly made it’s way into website design, and we’ve lost the ability to be creative.
Why is fun website design important?
You might have been programmed to think that there is no place for fun in professional website design. Your London website design agency might have told you that it’s all about a set of rules that bring in results. This is otherwise known as “form follows function”, and isn’t a concept that is necessarily wrong. The problem we have with this is that a lot of website design “experts” have made this the golden rule of design, and forgotten all about the creative aspect. There is no balance between the two, so what we’ve created is a pattern of boring website design.
Picasso couldn’t have said it better! One of history’s greatest artists already told us this, but despite his warning we’re still making the same mistakes. There is a lot we can learn just by looking at a child who draws for the sake of fun, and we’ve broken down just a few points. Have a read, and share your thoughts.
Emotional Design
One of the biggest problems of website design that we face today is the lack of emotion. Your website should be designed to convey the emotion that you want your target audience to feel. Why do you think that children always draw animals, flowers, and objects with smiling faces? Because they are translating the happiness they feel into something that you can look at!
You wouldn’t want to deal with someone that has no human feelings. Human emotions help people relate to each other, so make sure your website communicates that your business is a people’s business.
Colourful Websites
Another quality we can take from children is the amount of colour used in their art. We are often too scared to throw colour into designs because of the fear of appearing unprofessional. You don’t have to throw every colour under the rainbow on your website design, but a hint of bright colours here and there can really work to bring out your content and draw attention.
Interactive Websites – Something you can play with
Before video game consoles became so important to society, children would play simple pen and paper games to pass the time. Even though we’re surrounded by electronics, the aspect of “fun” is still very important in our lives today. On almost every train journey you can see someone playing Angry Birds on their iPhones/iPads, so why not keep your users glued to your website by adding a nice little gimmick?
Take a look at Google for example, who are known to be extremely fun and creative with their brand. Their Google Doodles bring awareness to worldwide events, and they’ve even gone as far as to include hidden easter eggs in searches. Google “zerg rush” now and see what happens.
A lot of websites nowadays are the same, so having something interactive that makes users come back or share with a friend is definitely worth a few points. Bring out the inner child in your target audience.
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