Achieving the balance between originality and convention
In this competitive world, it is more important than ever to stand out: But this should not be at the expense of alienating your site’s users by seeking a design that is too far removed from widely-adopted web standards and conventions.
Conventions exist for a reason
Swimming upstream like a salmon, to defy convention for the sake of it is a strategy which rarely pays off when it comes to website design.
Ever wonder why:
- Important calls to action are typically placed ‘above the fold’ of most web pages?
- Checkout buttons are so prominently positioned in most e-commerce stores?
- Plain, simple fonts are used for body text?
Actually, there are many reasons why certain conventions are commonplace in web design: But the answer can be summarised in one short phrase: ‘Because usability matters’.
A focus on usability will set you right
There is a big difference between ‘beautiful’ design and ‘effective’ design: A site can be pleasing to the eye, but if aspects of it are confusing or frustrating to use, the design needs to be revised, tout de suite.
Whether usability informs each aspect of the design, or simply sits at the back of a designers mind throughout their creative processes, it should never be neglected. All design decisions should be made with a sort of ‘veto’ in place: i.e. if something looks attractive, distinctive or just plain cool: But it harms the site’s usability in any way, the idea shouldn’t make it past the drawing board.
Designers today face the challenging task of producing website layouts which can engage with the end user and stick in their mind: But they also need to be clear and concise about how the site will function and not expect users to be patient enough to persist with any form of learning curve: After all, few people today haven’t used a website – and they’ll carry certain expectations with them as a result of this exposure.
Effective design is about balancing creativity and originality with usability and functionality.
By keeping usability in mind throughout the design process – and by constantly asking questions about each design decision, it is possible to achieve web design nirvana: A site which looks gorgeous and distinctive which can also be understood and easily used by site visitors straight away.
Brilliant – that’s the site layout strategy sorted – but what about the real meat of your website – the content?
Keep your content balanced
On one hand, high-quality text content is like gold-dust: It can help a website to rise up in the search engine rankings and generate more traffic. If the content is valuable to users, they’ll discover your site – keep returning, time after time – and, in many cases even start to recommend it to their contacts. On the other hand, if the content is not presented effectively, you might find that site visitors simply won’t take the time to read any further than the first few lines.
Getting this balance right requires some experimentation, as this will typically vary from site to site: However, the following tips can often prove to be a useful rule of thumb:
- Avoid throwing too much text on a single page: If you do have to display reams of content, try breaking it up into bite-sized chunks to make it more palatable to your users using tabs, images, dividers, clever styling or other techniques.
- Think about the balance between text, navigation and images: Images can be used to link users through to deeper pages, or as calls to action which support the content. Navigation needs to be easy to access and consistent as the user browses through your site pages – but it shouldn’t get in the way of, or detract from your content.
- Remember to make your content easy to find and relevant: Even the most well-written text content and stunning images will fall flat if they are simply contained within the wrong section of your website.
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