The Internet is a heavily visual medium. After all, it grew out of a text-only format, so being visually-oriented is one of the basic traits of the medium. It was, of course, practically predestined that as soon as someone could incorporate images into the Internet, they would. And boy, did they.
When you're building your website, your text – your primary content – is still one of the most important elements, but you cannot neglect your graphic design. Customers expect nice-looking websites, and a purely text-only design would likely not attract many visitors. So, you need graphic design to enhance, underscore, and subtly influence your visitors' reaction to your web site.
The paradox of graphic design is that the best graphic design is very often the most invisible. While there is certainly a place and a niche for big, bold, challenging graphic designs, generally speaking, your design should be as unobtrusive as possible. It shouldn't really draw attention to itself, like the sound design in a movie. No one but film buffs watch a film for the first time and think, “Wow, this flick has great sound design!”
It simply is there, enhancing the overall product. So let's look at a few ways to make sure your graphic design is enhancing your message, not detracting from it.
Some Key Aspects of Internet Graphic Design
Keep it simple. I suspect this is one of those areas that's going to swing, pendulum-like, back and forth, but at the moment simple website designs are en vogue. People don't want lots of options and buttons; they want a simple and streamlined design that makes it as simple and easy to do what they want. Consider your elements and strip out anything that doesn't actually serve a purpose, and keep only those that facilitate use.
Draw attention to the most important elements. The areas you most want people to look at: your name, your calls to action, your blogs should be the most visually distinctive areas. Putting a light object (like a call-to-action button) on top of a dark field is the simplest way to do this, but in general, it's about having a sharp color or brightness contrast. Your visitor should never be looking at a page in bafflement wondering where to start.
Use whitespace. There can be a temptation to cram every inch of your page with stuff. Don't. Whitespace (that is, where there are no visual elements at all besides the background) are important for keeping a sense of flow and, in effect, giving the visitor mental breathing room. Use of whitespace also naturally draws your visitors' eyes towards the content, making it work as a “here's where you look” signpost as well.
Vary your content. We said the Internet is a visual medium, so make the most of it! Spice up those boring old text blogs with pictures, infographics, diagrams, charts, maybe even elements like film clips. It's a basic rule of teaching that using different formats helps communicate to different kinds of people, so this one is a twofer: you keep visitors' interest, while making it more likely they'll receive your message.
In short: Consider your graphic elements in relation to your customers.
Everyone wants to build their dream website, but it's not just for you. Your choices like color scheme, motto design, elements like a mascot, and other design choices should fundamentally flow from what your customers want. The best design, of course, takes your ideas and then presents them using colors, fonts, and styles your customers want. Just never forget that your customers should be your focus.
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