Web Design Tips
Thinking about creating a website? I felt a little overwhelmed when I was thinking abut stating my blog too. And when you finally take the plunge and create a website for your business you want to make sure that it performs. This also links in with my job in marketing insight. A lot of the points I will touch on are the same in advertising, and I spend basically all day trying to share these tips with those I work with too!
So let’s start by thinking of web design kinda like real estate. Every ounce of that land space matters and you have to make sure that you utilise all of it, right? Wrong! When you’re building a website you don’t need to use up all the real estate to be effective. In fact, making sure that there is enough white space can actually improve your design. Here’s a few tips I’ve learnt over the years on how to do it to make the most of your space.
Create Breathing Room
The great thing about white space is that it creates a visual breathing room and helps make your website look clear and organised. When the elements of your website are given room to breathe your users will be better able to absorb any information you are trying to land.
Your paragraphs, for example, will become more readable. The messages that you are trying to send will clearly stand out. The bottom line is that clutter is not something you want in your home or where you work so you shouldn’t have it on your website. It makes things feel messy and overwhelming and can be really off-putting.
Always make sure that you think of the user first. A user-friendly website will always keep visitors engaged.
Direct Their Gaze
The great thing about white space is that it allows you to manipulate exactly where your viewers will look. If you’re trying to grab attention to one particular item on your web page, having white space around it is a great way to make the visitors focus on essential information such as calls to action or critical images on your website.
This is a good way to also improve the navigation on your site and get your visitors to zone in on critical parts of your content. Having the best content crafted by a great SEO company is critical, but you also need to make sure that your web design keeps people on page and focused.
For example, you may want them to sign up for your email list after reading your content, and using white space around your lead magnet is a great way to help focus their attention and remove distractions.
Minimalism Is In
Many people value minimalism and will appreciate the lack of clutter on your website. There can be a lot going on in people’s minds when they are browsing. This means having a space that people can come to where they don’t feel so overwhelmed. They don’t want to have to deal with lots of unnecessary information so minimalism will be greatly appreciated. This leads to greater user experience that people will remember and hopefully revisit.
So the important thing to remember with web design is that you don’t have to fill up all the space. The more white space you can use around specific areas of your website that you’d like attention to be drawn to, the more effective it will be. Overwhelming the eyes of visitors is a quick way of getting them to look away quickly and never come back.
People remember bad experiences, and if your website makes them feel this way you can guarantee they won’t return. Make sure you are using white space wisely and let me know if you have any questions!
LL x
*This is a contributed post. As ever, all opinions are my own.
Leave a Reply