Web Design - Improve User Experience With Navigational Clues

Modern websites need Web designers who know how to use usability to their advantage. After all, usability can convert more people to purchase services from your business. And that is what it is all about. If a user shows up to your website and has little to no clues on where to go and how to get their information, they will immediately bounce.

That is why you need to provide certain navigational clues that emphasize a certain concise quality and design approach. Think of the images that you use. I know that I have visited some very inconsistently designed websites. Ones who did not understand how to place images, and use them effectively for converting traffic coming into their website.

The best way to do this is to make sure that a user who shows up on your website has a clear path to the various areas that you promote. If they cannot figure out where to go, what to do and how to find your information via visual and textual clues, you will end up with less convertible traffic.

With image-based visual clues, make sure that you keep white space organized throughout the design. Try to lead visitors with hierarchical organization. For example, logo/menu image areas lead to body content, and then to the footer. The primary method for a concise methodology for design is to provide a central focal point.

Also try to visualize the space that you have to work with. As always, your design will be constrained by the limits of the white space on the screen. And while it may be an open invitation to go crazy, a well thought out application of images with a good use of white space can make it clear that you know what you are doing in Web design. As well, the user experience will be improved.

Some visual techniques that you could employ:

• Scale: Large or small, scale determines the viewpoint, perspective and visual angle of an image.
• Cropping: Turning full-scale photography into a more refined approach might require cropping.
• Juxtaposition: Different images that convey a similar or approachable meaning.
• Abstraction: Metaphorical meaning and symbolic imagery.
• Magnification: Finite or microscopic imagery. Zoom-in techniques.
• Orientation: Top-down, bottom-up, at an angle; imagery with distinct angular perspective.
• Typography: Text embellished with creative typography that accentuates a company's message.

Carl Drummond is an avid watcher and guru of what's hot in technology, and enjoys researching and writing about the subject of design, development and related topics found on the Web. He believes that Indianapolis website design is about usability and your target audience, and trying to capture visitors with a sleek and professional look.