WordPress Tips

Superior web design goes far beyond delivering quality content and making it look nice. A well-designed website should evoke feelings that prompt the visitor to linger. The type of feelings, whether positive or negative, are within the hands of the designer and should be a key component of your web design plan. In this two part series, NOYO Web Development looks at the four major elements to web design that produce the greatest psychological impact on visitors: space, color, typography, and content.

Space

The organization of a web page can dramatically impact how a visitor feels while they peruse your site. Organizing the content should be a priority, and this must take into account the space it uses on the page. If you are not familiar with this concept, white space is the areas of a page in which no visual element or content is present. White space acts as a visual resting place and are often found in margins and around key components. The use of minimalism, which uses the least amount of visual content to convey an idea, is very popular now.

In other words, if a visitor stops on your website and every centimeter of the screen is full of blinking buttons, graphics, and words, the site feels chaotic and drives the visitor away. If no white space is present, the visitor has no visual break from the chaos.

It’s imperative that your web developer works closely with a professional content provider to create impactful content that respects the space, giving a feeling of organization, professionalism, and overall good vibes. You want your visitors to have a sense that you have your act together and are easy to work with. Keeping things simple and organized with adequate white space conveys the message that you respect the visitors time by focusing on only the most important information.

Color

When a designer plans a website, frequently the client will want to use the organization’s new or existing visual branding. However, how these colors are used impact the way a potential client feels when they visit your website. Neutrals can convey the positive feelings of openness, but the risk is they can also seem bland and dull. Greys are modern and clean, but can feel uninviting or cold. Blacks are frequently associated with clean, professional sites, but overuse can be overpowering or even seem generic.

Using colors to convey positive feelings depends on the hue, tint, and shade of the color as well as which color you choose. In general, an inviting, creative, and open site will blend a combination of greens, blues, touches of “pop” colors like orange and yellow, as well as a neutral background. This of course can change depending upon your product or service, and the feeling you wish to produce.
Most visual identities use neutrals, such as tints, hues, and shades of whites, greys, and blacks, along with their main color schemes. In today’s web designs, these neutrals often dominate the page. For instance, if a company’s main branding colors are yellow and blue, with neutrals of black and white, the background will be white instead of yellow or blue.

These neutrals act like white space, providing the visitor’s eye a space for rest. The colors you choose also play another role in the psychology of the web design. Cool colors such as blues, greens, and purples, evoke a relaxed, inviting, and professional feeling. Warm colors such as yellows, reds, and oranges, can give a sense of warmth and creativity.

Check back for our next blog post that will cover typography and content as key elements to web design.

NOYO Web Development offers a comprehensive, professional approach to web design that includes not only functional elements by creative, artistic, proven methods to layout of your pages. Contact us today for a free consultation.