What is graphic design?
Graphic design is the process of visual communication and problem-solving using one or more of typography, photography, and illustration. The responsibility of a website graphic designer is to understand the sort of visual appeal that the owner of a business is looking for, and package their message in a manner which increases attention and appeal.
Website graphic design has become increasingly popular in the recent years, with more of the world turning to online ventures. A business website has become a necessary component today. However, more than that, understanding how to market your products to make it even more appealing to your audience is paramount. This is where a professional website graphic designer comes into play.
Why is graphic design important?
More than 94% of online users state that they are either put off or are more interested in a company, depending on the first impressions that the website provides. And with over 55% of the world having internet access, this number becomes huge. In addition, people are generally more interested in the way the content is presented to them, rather than the substance. If your content does not look good from the get-go, there is a fair chance you are losing a larger number of visitors than you imagine.
Most established businesses stick to a color or a theme throughout. For example, blue and white always conjures up a mental image of Facebook. When you see a smiling face on a carton, you instantly know that it is Amazon. Web graphic designers help you stick to a specific theme throughout. Eventually, individuals will remember your business by the design you continuously present.
3 Common Website Graphic Design Problems & Solutions
Designing website content becomes an extremely hard task, especially for someone who is not well- versed in this field. Graphic design requires a careful study of the company, its products, its target audience, and the ethics which will go along with all these aspects. If you do not cater to all these rules, there is a chance you may fall into the void.
Problem 1: Designing for yourself
A business owner can make the mistake of designing a website that looks great in their opinion. You know how to navigate the website and think it looks beautiful and intuitive. You successfully designed a website that you think is great, but what about your visitor or client? You completely forgot about them. This is why a professional website graphic designer is needed to carry out the task. The goal is to design a website layout for your target audience since they will be the ones using your website.
Solution 1: Design with end-user in mind
The solution is to develop a website layout design that is appealing to your ideal visitor or target audience. Through a website development discovery session, a graphic designer will be able to extract main business requirements and relay them into visual elements that align with your overall color scheme. The graphic designer will also be able to recommend a font selection that aligns with your industry. A music artist’s website can have fun fonts whereas a bank’s website will have a serious tone. Your visitor’s first impression will be based on overall look of your website. Consider professional website design tailored for your target audience.
Problem 2: Forgetting about the content
Oftentimes, in the web design and development project, graphic layout design is completed first with placeholder header and paragraph text to be decided later. The problem with this order of completion is that your final written content may not align with the visual elements and vice-versa. While the image you chose for your about us section seemed great at first, it eventually does not play a supportive role in further describing your written content.
Solution 2: Graphic design must support the content
So you have written a great article describing your business, yourself, the services you offer and while text is one way of communicating, images and custom designed graphics can improve the retention of content. 90% of all information transmitted to our brains is visual. People remember 80% of what they see, but only 20% of what they read. It’s important to include supplementary visuals and most importantly, must be visuals that support your content. If you sell digital website services and you show a picture of someone working out in a blog about website graphic design, what is the connection between the two? Now, instead of enhancing the use experience, you are confusing the reader.
Problem 3: Poor readability layout design
Once an individual lands on your website home page, he or she sees is met with a sea of text. There are sections of paragraphs with a ton of text with no headlines to describe what the content is discussing. This type of design is ineffective since the visitor is trying to quickly understand your business, what services you offer and how can you benefit their bottom line. In providing too much information in one section, you have forced your visitor to try and consume all the content in one bite.
Solution 3: Implement graphic design best practices
For a website visitor to understand your business and the services you offer, it’s important to design website sections in chunks of content that can be quickly understood and consumed. For example, a section with one paragraph with 10 sentences can take 2 minutes to read. On the other hand, if you used a headline to paint the general idea of what the content discusses along with a sub-headline with supporting details, your visitor will quickly be able to understand your point. Attention spans online are limited. Take Apple Inc as an example. If you land on one of their pages, you will see a headline, one sentence, an image, and a call to action asking you to buy their product. Their design is simple and to the point. Be like Apple Inc.
Next steps
If you are looking for an agency to help make your website more attractive and appealing to your audience, Optimal Pursuits is your one-stop shop. Fill out our questionnaire to request a complimentary website graphic design audit, and revamp your website today!
