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Web design: audience is everything

Originally published on Thursday, August 11th, 2005

British researchers found in a study released today that men and women have distinctly different tastes when it comes to “good web design.” The study found that men assigned higher ratings to websites with dark colors and straight, horizontal lines as major design elements. Women, on the other hand, preferred a more liberal use of colors and typefaces. Is any of this information useful to web designers? Maybe. But the study does serve as a good reminder of what constitutes effective web design. Here are a few things to keep in mind when designing your next site.

1. Usability is #1 priority

Breathtaking graphic design is nice and all, but what good is your site if your visitors can’t find what they’re looking for? It’s usually good practice to keep the main site navigation on the left-hand margin or the top of the page. Your logo and a link back to the homepage should be easily accessible, and is best placed in the top-left corner of the screen. Be sure to give each of your pages descriptive titles (in the title tag). For larger sites, include a link to a Site Map page. This will help users reach their target if they become lost on your website. Once you are confident that your users will be able to find what they’re looking for quickly, start enhancing the aesthetics. Remember: your visual design should work around the goals of your users. Don’t create obstacles for your visitors just because you want to show off your Photoshop talents.

2. Audience is key

Know your audience. This may be the single most overlooked component of the web development process. If your target user is 45 years old and uses Windows 95 with Netscape 3.0, your Flash site is completely useless. If your target user is 20 years old, you have more flexibiltiy to use a less formal tone and more “trendy” visual effects. Your page design, copywriting tone, and site structure should all be dependent on your target user. If you want a successful website, make sure you know who this user is before you start development. It will save you plenty of revisions and headaches later on.

3. Know when to break the rules

My suggestions so far will definitely lead you down the right path. The truth is, however, that there are plenty of times when following standard practice is NOT the best solution. Breaking the rules, when done cleverly and appropriately, can greatly enhance the effectiveness of a website. I used to read dozens of articles on WebMonkey (www.webmonkey.com), a website geared towards web developers, computer programmers, and designers. Most books and websites are very technical and boring when it comes to these subjects. WebMonkey took a completely different approach and presented their articles in a humerous and informal tone. For people accustomed to reading dry, geeky tutorials, this was a welcome relief. The results speak for themselves as the site has been one of the most popular on the Web for many years.

So while new research about the differences in web design preferences among men and women may not pique your interest, it does serve as a reminder as to what constitutes good web design.

Visit CNN to read the full article about the web design study.

This article was written by Christopher Jason and published on Thursday, August 11th, 2005. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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