Website Design Features That Pull The Eye
- By Cheow Yu Yuan
- Published 08/3/2011
- Web Design
- Unrated
If you were to click quickly between twenty different websites right now you would notice something different about each one of them. If you gave yourself just a few seconds to glance over each site, there would likely be one thing that remembered prominently right after viewing it. Those things are the focal points of the websites. They are what pull the eye the moment someone clicks into the website, so they are very important aspects of web design.
Website elements that draw attention tend to be those that really pop off the page. They may be flash elements that sparkle, talk, or move around the page. They may also have bold or unusual fonts or colors that contrast nicely with other colors on the page. They could just be larger in size than other features on the page.
What Gets the Attention?
Once you become aware of the phenomenon of one thing pulling the eye to it and drawing attention, you have to decide what aspect of the page deserves the spotlight. It's like turning a bright spotlight on to single out a dancer at a night club. You don't want to single out just anyone. You want someone who will make others want to get on the dance floor and have fun. The spotlight will focus on someone beautiful who dances well and has a vibe that naturally draws others.
The feature you choose to spotlight on your website should have the same alluring vibe. It should be something that is going to command attention of your target market or the ideal visitor for a client's website. It should be something that makes visitors want to stick ar
ound for awhile, click to other important pages of the website, or bookmark the site to come to later. It may even make them want to refer the site to others who may be interested in the feature being highlighted.
For instance, when someone interested in prom dresses clicks onto a website and instantly sees a splashy circle that reads "Designer Prom Dresses 50% Off" they are likely to click that circle to see the discount dresses immediately. The see just what they can for and that is good news for site trying to sell prom dresses at prom time.
What Doesn't Get the Attention?
Minor details of the webpage should never be designed so they steal the attention of more important features on the page. This is a common mistake made by new website designers. They just come up with ideas for different elements of their webpage without thinking about the balance of the page or what is more important on the page. They have to learn with time to design so the more important elements are positioned and designed to pop out and steal the spotlight.
When deciding where to place the emphasis on a given webpage, ask yourself what the most important feature of the entire page is. If you have ideas that would allow one feature to dominate everything else, question whether that feature deserves the domination. If it isn't the most important aspect of the page you can either put the dominating idea to a more important feature or tone it down so it isn't so eye-grabbing.
Test your website if you aren't sure you're doing this correctly. Have ten people go to the page and look at it for just a few seconds. Then ask them what they saw first and what caught their interest.
Website elements that draw attention tend to be those that really pop off the page. They may be flash elements that sparkle, talk, or move around the page. They may also have bold or unusual fonts or colors that contrast nicely with other colors on the page. They could just be larger in size than other features on the page.
What Gets the Attention?
Once you become aware of the phenomenon of one thing pulling the eye to it and drawing attention, you have to decide what aspect of the page deserves the spotlight. It's like turning a bright spotlight on to single out a dancer at a night club. You don't want to single out just anyone. You want someone who will make others want to get on the dance floor and have fun. The spotlight will focus on someone beautiful who dances well and has a vibe that naturally draws others.
The feature you choose to spotlight on your website should have the same alluring vibe. It should be something that is going to command attention of your target market or the ideal visitor for a client's website. It should be something that makes visitors want to stick ar
For instance, when someone interested in prom dresses clicks onto a website and instantly sees a splashy circle that reads "Designer Prom Dresses 50% Off" they are likely to click that circle to see the discount dresses immediately. The see just what they can for and that is good news for site trying to sell prom dresses at prom time.
What Doesn't Get the Attention?
Minor details of the webpage should never be designed so they steal the attention of more important features on the page. This is a common mistake made by new website designers. They just come up with ideas for different elements of their webpage without thinking about the balance of the page or what is more important on the page. They have to learn with time to design so the more important elements are positioned and designed to pop out and steal the spotlight.
When deciding where to place the emphasis on a given webpage, ask yourself what the most important feature of the entire page is. If you have ideas that would allow one feature to dominate everything else, question whether that feature deserves the domination. If it isn't the most important aspect of the page you can either put the dominating idea to a more important feature or tone it down so it isn't so eye-grabbing.
Test your website if you aren't sure you're doing this correctly. Have ten people go to the page and look at it for just a few seconds. Then ask them what they saw first and what caught their interest.
Cheow Yu Yuan
# 1 leading cms website design agency in Singapore. Check out our content management system (CMS) portfolio here.
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