Knowing how to use visual hierarchy effectively throughout your website, can really increase your websites success rates.But how does this work? And how can visual hierarchy improve the user experience? Well, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design experts. And we work with companies and businesses across the region, to deliver high quality, effective, web design solutions. As a result, we have produced this guide to everything you should know about visual hierarchy, user experience and web design.
What is visual hierarchy in web design?
Visual hierarchy is a technique you can use to help persuade customers to make certain decisions. This works by positioning the most important content at the top of the page, with a more eye catching design. Text and images may even be larger than those underneath. As the website user, or potential customer or client scrolls down the page, the content should be ordered in regards of importance or usefulness.
In general, you will find that your website users, and potential customers or clients, will spend more time looking at these elements, and show more engagement and more interest in items that are positioned in a more prominent position. And this also means that you can use visual hierarchy to your own advantage, while creating a more positive user experience.
What is the connection between user experience and visual hierarchy in web design
Positioning elements carefully, to fit in with the structure of the page, and to create a visual hierarchy, can actually help your website to make more sales, and convert more customers. This is because visual hierarchy that is designed with the user in mind, and their requirements, can dramatically improve the user experience. To achieve this, you should consider:
- The requirements of your potential customers or clients- are people landing on your website because they want to buy a product or book or service? Or are they looking for more information first? Knowing what your users want, and then providing this as efficiently as possible is a great way to improve the user experience, and visual hierarchy can help with that. Once you know what your audience want, you should position this top of the page for instant success.
- The hierarchical design- just because you are using visual hierarchy in your web design, this doesn’t mean that your website will instantly be effective. You also need to consider the design itself. This must be logical, and use key design features to stand out, including colour, contrast and imagery.
Web design is all about meeting the users needs. And visual hierarchy provides an easy opportunity for you to show users exactly what you can offer, at a simple glance. Organise your layout and design by considering the most important outcomes for the user. This will ensure that you provide a positive user experience.
For more information or advice, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.