1- The Subject
We rarely create a website without a goal. It is then natural to want to communicate a message throughout the website, whether it is to sell clothes or to share your best recipes. This is why it is important to define what will be the main goal of your website. It can be generally summarized in one sentence (ex: sell casual clothes online).
Once your main goal is clear and defined, you can find adjectives that will help you with your graphic choices in the future. You could, for instance, want that your online shop expresses softness and feminity or manliness and strength. To manage to transpose these elements into graphism, you can make research to be inspired by websites or pictures that have the wanted ambiance so you can then create your ambiance boards. A board is essentially a file or a panel where you can gather all elements in order to have a global vision of the graphic style you are aiming to have.
2- Colors
Once you have a defined idea of the graphic style you are looking to use, you will then have to decide which colors you will use on your website. Ideally, the chosen palette should have between 3 and 5 colors. It should also include a darker color and a lighter one to create a contrast easily. Contrasts help create easy to decode layouts.
Furthermore, it is recommended to test the chosen colors contrasts with a contrast analysis tool. This has the advantage of making your website more accessible for people with color blindness or with visual impairment. They represent approximately 8% of the population, which is not to neglect. Moreover, good contrasts help the text readability in general, which is essential to a website.
Lastly, it is suggested to create a color system that will stay constant on your website. For example, to have all your buttons in the same color, pictures with the same tints, all your texts in one same color, etc. Consistency can allow you to have a balanced result that your users will like.
3- Photos and Illustrations
Now that you have a good idea of the colors you want to use, it is the time to choose your photos and illustrations. Ideally, each page element must have a specific function, whether it is only for a utility purpose like a button or a visual function like a photo that supports the text. Considering that the number of pictures must be limited for technical reasons, it is then very important to choose the right ones. In this way, if your picture has text on it, it is important to have sufficient contrast with the text to have good readability. We also suggest that the picture composition leave some space for the text so it does not intrude on the subject of the picture. Ideally, it implies that the chosen pictures will have a relatively neutral background.
4- Graphic Elements
As for photos, graphic gimmicks must have a function. In this case, a visual function. These elements are mostly used to support some of the page’s key elements like titles or specific paragraphs. These elements must be used coherently, which means that these elements will be used in the same context like for example the use of a line under an important title.
Moreover, we can also introduce in this category the graphic interface elements. These are the buttons, menus, and elements that your users can interact with. Each element must be coherent in its utility, which means they must have a defined function that does not change. In other words, a button that allows your users to download a file and a button that brings them on another page should be different; however, all buttons related to downloads should have the same style. It is the same thing for links. A link from the main menu and a link in a text should be different but all the links in texts should be the same.
In conclusion, it is with these little pieces of advice that you can start to create more pleasant websites that will be easier to use. Without a doubt, your users will stay longer on your website and will appreciate more your content. At the same time, a user-friendly website allows fulfilling its goal more easily since there will be less frustrating moments. Your user will only have to focus on what he was looking for.