In design, the most important part of the process is thinking about the consumer and his or her needs. The focus shouldn't be what the designer wants because in the end, its the consumer who will decide the success of the product. If a product is designed without the customer's needs in mind, the customer is going to buy something from a competing brand and then it won't matter how good the designer thinks his or her product is. This is the same case in web design. If the site is confusing and if it is designed for the sole reason of promoting the designer's site for selfish reasons, then the site's visitors are going to visit competing sites.
2. What points do you feel are the most important?
The site should be designed for the viewer, with his and her best interests in mind. In the end, it won't matter how good your site looks if no one is visiting it and instead visiting a competitor's site. The designer's primary focus should be how they can solve the viewers' problems.
A site should be easy to understand and navigate at first look. If someone visits the site and is confused about where the search bar is located because the site has too much unnecessary graphics, the design has failed. Someone should be able to figure out what kind of site it is, for whatever organization, within four seconds.
His next point, "don't do anything that gets in the way of the sale." A product, or website, should be designed in a way that won't prevent the "sale." It should draw the viewer in, not lead him or her away because of graphics, color, pop-ups, log-in problems, etc. This ties into his other point about Adobe Flash, it's just another way to lead people away from a site, unless it's used right right.
His next important point is the Heroin Content, remembering what the viewer wants and needs. A good site frequently updates its information so that when the user comes back to visit, there's updated information to see.
Content trumps design. In the end, it doesn't matter how nice the site looks if it doesn't contain useful information and doesn't function easily so someone can use it. This point also goes back to his point about contrast. On the visceral level, the site should have proper contrast. The text should be readable, and the visitor shouldn't have to strain his or her eyes trying to read white lettering against a bright yellow background. He says don't mess around with the text because text is text. It also doesn't look very professional when you have a bright green background and bright blue text, even if it is talking about a children's program.
His next point is that a site shouldn't have too much content on one page. If there is too much going on one the screen, it is hard to navigate and find what you're looking for. The whole purpose of visiting the site is shot.
3. Create your own list of important design factors for a webpage.
1. Immediate feedback: the user should be able to access a site without being blocked by Adobe Flash, pop-ups and annoying graphics.
2. The homepage is clear and concise; the user knows what kind of site it is within a short period of time and can tell how to get to where they want to go.
3. Viscerally appealing. The text is easy to read; no bright text behind bright backgrounds. The text shouldn't be too small or too large, and it shouldn't be crammed on one page. Also, not too many graphics on a single page.
4. Easy navigation.
5. Trying to make the webpage look cool shouldn't come before getting the information across.
6. A site should be constantly updated. No one is going to take information about a current issue from a site that hasn't been updated in over two years. When people know a site is reliable because its information is up to date, they'll visit it more frequently.
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