Marrying Web Design and User Experience

Sometimes you have an idea for your website design that is so magnificent, so groundbreaking, so astounding that we absolutely cannot use it. We know it’s disappointing, but it’s often for the best.

That’s because while design is important, it isn’t the only consideration in how your website should look. We have to make sure the web design also provides the best user experience (abbreviated UX). UX is critically important. If visitors to your website have a good experience, they are more likely to stay on your website. This inherently helps improve your SEO, which will bring more visitors to your site. It also makes them more likely to buy your product or service. So when we’re designing your website,we want to balance your vision with some important UX considerations.

Your Website Should Match Its Genre

Think of the last time you were selecting a book to read or a movie to watch. You probably noticed how most of the books or movies you were interested in had significant similarities in their cover or poster designs. That’s because publishers and movie advertisers understand that genre clues are very important to attracting the eye of their audience. Science-fiction will have a spaceship or alien on it, for example, while a romance will have a man and woman on the cover. With romance, the genre clues can be very subtle, with the exact dress (or undress) of the figures and how they are oriented or touching each other giving the audience clues about what type of romance to expect. Websites also have genres, and if you want your audience to stay on your website they should be able to recognize the genre of your website as belonging to the type of good or service they’re looking for. Visitors will often make this judgment in a fraction of a second, and they are just as quick to hit the “back” button to return to search results if your website doesn’t look right. Website designs that are either radically new or borrow heavily from other industries can have this problem. So the first part of the UX we consider is whether a website design matches what visitors look for in your type of website. There’s room to stand out, but you don’t want to be too different.

Visitors Should Find What They’re Looking For

Perhaps the most important part of the UX is that visitors to your website should be able to navigate the website easily. Most website users have visited thousands if not millions of websites, and they have developed a sense of how websites work. They don’t want to learn an entirely new organizational scheme just for your website. So your UX should build off the positive design features they’ve encountered on other websites. Plus, visitors want to be able to see their options when they get to your website. They don’t want to have to hunt around to find where they’re going. Design should never obscure or hide the navigation on your website or UX will suffer.

The Website Should Please the Eye

Don’t get us wrong: the beauty of your website is an essential part of UX. Being attractive not only makes your website more pleasant to visitors, it also makes it seem more trustworthy. This means that an attractive website will lead to more conversions as well as more time spent on site. So we want to make sure your website will appeal to a large audience, especially one in the demographic you’re targeting. And that might be why we have to modify your website design. Your design might appeal to you, but it’s possible that your taste is too specialized to work for your website. If you want your website to reach as many visitors as possible, the design can’t be too radical. Most people’s UX will suffer when they encounter it. On the other hand, if you are only trying to reach a very small audience that has very distinct tastes, it might be better if your website has a radical design. If you can target the specific taste of your audience, those people’s UX will improve because they feel welcome and known at your site. We will strike a balance that makes sure your design appeals to your intended audience.

Web Design That Works

During your consultation, we will talk to you about your goals for your website. Then we’ll design one that will achieve those goals, melding an outstanding web design with UX that will keep visitors coming to your site and contacting you about your products and services. You can review some of ouroutstanding work to get an idea of how we can help you. To get started on your web design, pleasecontact Vea Technologies today for a consultation.