The Psychology of Web Design – A Kenyan View

Web Design Kenya

Archer Designs Lead Developer Clint takes us through a few psychological fundamentals of what web design.

The goal of a website is to attract visitors, and then retain them as customers. However, in the budding arena of Internet businesses not many graphic designers and web designers in Kenya take into account the human element of web design.

Any designer worth his or her salt will know that the basis of a great web design is understanding the psychology of the target audience. The user has to be understood intrinsically to effectively navigate the choice of color, layout and message conveyed by the web design, and this can only be done through a careful plan that strategically orients the competitive intelligence to make the design effective.

The key to a successful business is engaging the target market and if graphic designers understand the psychology of the audience they can offer them a conducive experience to navigating the web design appealing to their conscious and unconscious drives.

For instance, when we came up with the our Web strategy for our digital marketing and advertising company, Archer Designs, we found that companies and individuals searching for us wanted to know what type of solutions we could offer them online compared to what they were getting.

These are some of the strategies we implored:

• We made the first impression a lasting impression- In order to retain the attention of the notoriously fickle web visitor the design and layout of the page was made classic, brief and bold with important detail.
• We made multiple elements work together-  The color combinations, the navigation, the typography and the call to action all worked together to accommodate the visitor needs, which we had defined as a quick understanding of services and how we’ve done it before/portfolio.
• We simplified the content- We created an environment where the audience was given information in a way that is obvious and requires no mental exercise.
• We eye tracked the information- We understood that most users read a website in a Z pattern. We hence opted to create a navigational layout that ensures the call to action, and headline is placed in a prominent ‘first glance’ position and then the rest of the structure is built around it, with graphics and text interchanged to make maximum impact.
• We immediately resonate trust with our users- We chose photos to display on the website that embody the business vision and that will display the notion of positive energy and trust to the audience.

Remember these few tips from us:

1. Content does remain the king of online marketing but simplifying the content will prove more effective in reaching the masses.
2. The first impression is the last impression. This may be an outdated mode of operation but the fact is, when visitors land on a website they are specifically looking for a product, service or information. If the web design fails to provide what they are looking for within the first 5-8 seconds of their landing on the page, the visitor will ‘bounce’.
3. A wide variety of research suggests that online visitors make snap decisions and creating content that is convoluted and complex will narrow the target market to a large extent.
4. Most users will read on average 25% of your web content so breaking down the attention span of the audience (which according to Statistic Brain is 8 seconds) the best graphic designs will have carefully placed headers and call to action buttons that get the point across with the least amount of content.
5. Understanding human behavior is the key to business success. To influence the user towards a specific brand or action you have to gain their trust. Images and photos are a fantastic way to influence a user.

 

Bottom Line:

The user experience is the main facet of a web design and if designers make an effort to understand the web audience for the business they will make a good web design, great.

 

Source: Psychology in Web Design