Graphic Design as part of Internet Development
Any web site worth its salt will incorporate graphic
design not only to provide eye-candy for visitors, but
also as a vital part of its overall sales and marketing
strategy.
However, when using graphics as an integral part of web design, care should be
taken.
Whilst the correct use of graphics within will have a positive impact on visitor
conversion, incorrectly made or poorly designed graphics within a site’s
design can have devastating effects on its sales conversion ratios and visitor
appeal.
Successful web designers use graphics as a tool to enhance
the main features of any page or to illustrate a particular
point about a product or service.
Furthermore, image placement also plays a role in the
success or failure of any web design undertaking.
For example,
one mistake made by many designers is to overuse their
favourite colours.
From a purely professional point of view, it would be
far more advisable to take a neutral stance, picking those
colours and shades which place the most emphasis on the
product or service you are trying to promote.
Allow us
to illustrate.
If your site is about downhill skiing, but your favourite
colours happen to be pink and purple, you would be ill
advised to integrate these colours into the design of
your site, since they have little or no connection with
your site’s
actual topic.
Instead you would be best off using varying shades of
blue, white and grey, since these bear a far closer relationship
to the general heading of winter sports.
Another frequently
made error is graphical overkill (excessive use of graphics
on a particular page), which not only gives the page in
question a disorganised look, but also has a detrimental
effect on its loading time.
Since it is a proven fact that visitors will desert a
site in droves if it takes too long to load, this is most
definitely not a desirable result.
By the same token, if a page contains no graphics at all,
visitors will consider it to be plain and unattractive,
no matter how fast it loads.
Then of course there is the
site’s background image which can make or break
a site’s overall appearance.
Many budding web developers choose intricate backgrounds
in an effort to enhance the appearance of a page without
realising their effect on a reader’s eye.
The use of any background which physically interferes
with the visitor’s
ability to read a page’s content must be avoided
at all costs, since it will result in visitors leaving
the site at great speed through sheer frustration and
in an effort to save their eyesight.
Ultimately, designers
should realise that graphic design plays an important
role in online selling and the correct balance must be
achieved in order to enable a site to reach its maximum
potential as a successful marketing tool.
Graphic Design can make or break a web site
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