With so much web technology available, it’s easy to be led astray by busy, overdone animation and graphics techniques. But successful website design is a great deal more than a visual smorgasbord. It’s about creating a visually interesting environment that can be easily navigated, with the right balance between form and function.
Using slow-loading photography, or overdoing Flash technology can at best, take your visitor’s focus away from your main message, and at worst, frustrate them into leaving the site. These elements should be done in a tasteful way that ultimately enhances your website design. An effective site should not clutter or distract the visitor, but instead, create awareness. A site should communicate, but then swiftly allow the visitor to decide his or her next course of action.
Knowing the course of action that you want from your website visitor will help you make some of the hard decisions about what to leave in and what to take out of a site. Whether you want your visitor to click to another page, or just move their eyes to different section of the same page, you must create these transitions in a subtle way, so that the viewer can comprehend the information presented, then move on.
Whether your style is clean and edgy, or tasteful and professional, the “less is more” mantra should inform every aspect of your website design. Your visitors live in a world of multi-tasking, where they are very likely to be simultaneously checking their e-mail, speaking on a conference call and purchasing online tickets. Everyone wants things right now – and sometimes that’s not even soon enough. The easier you make it for your visitors to see, understand and use your site, the more results you will receive and the more you’ll add to your bottom line. So you see, less really is more when it comes to website design.