The web design process is often underestimated and a complex one in the web development project. As a novice, you may have no idea about the aspects related to the psychology of website design. A web design agency has a crucial role involving professionals’ backing. They design websites so that users cannot help reacting and perceiving the elements involved.
One of the crucial aspects of web design psychology is that it persuades visitors to either convert or explore in detail. Even designing a website may appear complex, however, for a user, it should be simplest in terms of navigation. The element should perform coherently, according to the placement carried out intentionally. In this blog, we will give you comprehensive details regarding the psychology of web design. You will come across a variety of aspects including shapes, colors, layout, spacing, and typography. All of these factors combine to let the user know what kind of action they need to take on the website.
What is a Good Website Design?
A good website design grabs the attention of more website visitors. Credibility and importance are the two core aspects of the psychology of website design. If a website is not well thought-out, it may not serve the purpose it is supposed to provide to any business.
Good designs in a website combine three crucial aspects to give the desired outcome to organizations. These include well-structured unique content, well-thought-out page layouts, and carefully picked typefaces and colors. This is what determines web design psychology as a logical process. Several website designers start by employing psychological aspects while designing their websites. These help in influencing the psychology of website design on the customers on a deeper level.
User Research and Psychology of Web Design
Your opinion does not count when focusing on the usability and design elements of a website. Instead of enforcing your biased perspective, you should focus on many elements. These include web design psychology, customer research, and data-driven insights. Website visitors are the only people that matter when designing a website. If you are honest about driving customer-centric user experience in its true sense, then you should focus on data and direct feedback. The user research can be categorized as follows:
- Qualitative and
- Quantitative
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Qualitative User Research
In qualitative user research, you should focus on the motivations and opinions of the people. For this purpose, you can make use of open-ended surveys and interviews as mediums to figure out what people really want.
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Quantitative User Research
In quantitative user research, you have to get the information out with the help of a variety of sources of measurable data. These include sources such as questionnaires, polls, and multiple-choice surveys.
Hence, qualitative and quantitative research are essential aspects to determine the what and why of the people. Hence while focusing on the psychology of web design, both of these data points have a crucial role to play.
The Importance of Trust in The Psychology of Website Design
This section describes the role of web design psychology and how it can affect your business. It is necessary to build trust first before getting started. Even if you are a field expert, your website design should communicate this in a subtle way. According to research, 70% of online consumers say they trusted their business by seeing the website design. Hence, the elements of web design psychology make use of creative elements or patterns that enable clients to make crucial decisions. The idea is that when landing on your web page, the visitor should have an idea of what they are here for and why.
To ensure users carry out our specific actions, UI designers focus on devising strategized website design psychology. There are a variety of elements taken into consideration to ensure the design is impactful. These include well-written text, color themes, relevant images, and fonts. Besides that, to further create an impression on the user, it is necessary to have clear intentions. According to research, you can increase information retention by up to 42T=%, using visual elements. For this purpose, you have to consider human behavior’s basic principles. Hence, you can influence the decision-making process of the users in a positive way.
Tips and Tricks for Choosing the Appropriate Shapes for Your Website Design
According to the cognitive psychology of website design people associate with specific characteristics, shapes, and emotions. According to this field of study, the minds we have can associate and categorize different stimuli naturally. Hence, it comes up with specific concepts and meanings.
According to this, while designing a website, communicate your message effectively with the help of specific shapes. For instance, horizontal lines also show the aspect related to the psychology of website design. It shows that there is a sense of serenity and calmness making it ideal for a website that focuses on topics of meditation or relaxation. On the other hand, the presence of ellipses and circles, can create a community sense, thus acting as an ideal choice for forums and social media websites.
On the contrary, the psychology of website design for squares and triangles portrays something else. It indicates a sense of stability and strength. Hence, it is an ideal choice for security firms or corporate websites. Furthermore, authority and sense of power are displayed by vertical lines. Thus, it is ideally suited for websites that promote innovation or leadership.
These give you an idea about the elements used for enticing customers as a part of the psychology of a website design. But, these aspects may vary from one culture to another. For example, a circle on a website may be used as a symbol of positivity. However, in Western cultures, they may be considered as an aspect of negativity.
To make informed decisions, you should know about associations between characteristics, emotions, or shapes. The choices of informed design should resonate well with your target audience. Hence, you can design an effective and engaging website according to the vision and goals of your visitors.
7 Aspects to Consider for a Great Web Design Psychology
Psychology is all about the motivation behind what tends to make us act for a particular decision. Even though you can carry out comprehensive user research, that won’t help in discovering what a person is thinking of. This is because, many times, people do not have an idea on their own as well. According to the psychology of website design, users connect with the website due to their intuitive design. This is what lets them interact with the users available on the site page. Following are 7 aspects to consider while designing a website according to psychological aspects.
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Hick’s Law
Have you ever thought about why you encounter difficulty while choosing something to eat from the menu? According to Hick’s Law, having too many options may lead to suppressed decision-making. The same is the case in terms of website design psychology. Hick’s law is named after American and British psychologists Ray Hyman and William Edmund Hick. According to it, it takes people the time to make a choice among the amount of options available.
Take a look at 2004 Google’s homepage:
And then look at how the same page appears today:
Most URLs have either been rearranged or removed from the search results page. While there were 12 at first, today it shows only 2, making it easier for the users to choose the options. Web design psychology remains the same for products available in a big library. So, what is the solution? The answer to this question is filters. You can cut down the number of products available on the website. This will help in cutting down the time spent on making decisions.
There are thousands of products available on the Fashion retailer website ASOS. You can choose the product of your choice by making use of the advanced filter available on the navigation menu. This extends through every page within the website, making it easier for people to narrow down and browse products. They can choose a variety of options such as sizing, prices, or occasions (events).
Furthermore, you can also have a jump-ahead option for the visitors. For example, whenever people hover over the products of their choice on the website of Clarke’s Cakes & Cookies. It immediately displays an “Add to cart” button:
Hence, this helps users to immediately purchase a product, without having to waste time clicking on every item. Users may encounter a “Paradox of Choice” when they do not find options to ease or simply the process of decision-making. Hence, if they take too long to make a decision, they may leave unsatisfied or decide not to choose anything at all.
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Fitts’ Law
The second law related to Web design psychology is Fitts’ Law. According to it, both the distance from the starting point and the size of a target object affect user engagement. If an element is closer and bigger, it is easier to interact with.
As a website design psychology, Fitts’ Law is an important aspect of computer-human interaction. However, this was initiated way before website design ever existed.
Paul Fitts was a psychologist who discovered that personal mistakes were not the only aspect related to human error. Poor design is also another factor that needs to be acknowledged in the psychology of web design. This is the reason why the “Play” button in Spotify is more prominent as compared to any other ones on the screen.
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Minimalistic Approaches in Web Design
The third aspect regarding the psychology of website design is adapting to a minimalistic approach. Having the right space is crucial in the world of website design. To make a website look effective and modern, this approach works wonders. Hence, it helps in increasing conversion rates and attracting new visitors at the same time.
There is a perfect balance of whitespace and content in a well-designed website. Negative space or whitespace is an area that lies between the elements of design. These include graphical elements, images, and text. You can have this space between different sections of your website or around the edges.
As far as it concerns the psychology of web design, whitespace is one of its essential elements. It is designed to guide the user’s eye by creating a visual hierarchy. Hence, it allows users to center their attention on essential elements of information. Furthermore, it makes content easy to scan and also improves readability.
According to a well-known saying “less is more” and this is something we agree upon wholeheartedly. But in comparison to minimalism, smart minimalism makes your website appear both informative and professional. You should strike the balance between content and whitespaces available on your website. As compared to overloaded and chaotic web pages, users tend to trust and focus on well-organized websites. However, do not miss out on details, while trying to keep things simple on the website. Everything matters including the space between the lines.
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Cognitive landscaping
The fourth aspect to consider in the psychology of website design is cognitive landscaping. To ensure the user takes decisive action, it is necessary to carry out cognitive research. Consumer loyalty, user experience, and buyer journey are all dependent on how a user feels about the manifestation of your brand. To engage the audience, you should focus on humanizing your brand. It is necessary to humanize your brand for a variety of reasons. These help users in getting connected with web design on an emotional level and get started with the process. According to David Wharram, CEO of Coast Digital, “We humans think of ourselves as rational creatures who make choices based on a conscious and logical thought process. But neuroscience tells us that in truth we make a lot of our decisions based on intuition; that ‘gut feeling’ of ours.”
Cognitive landscaping allows for looking at your website through an innovative lens. According to web and digital marketing agency, Trajectory, the process of successful cognitive landscaping involves messaging, intuitive page layout, coherence, ease of navigation, and engaging content. Hence, it results in effective calls to action or techniques of conversion.
While enhancing or designing your website, you should focus on the most strategic messaging for positioning. It is displayed in the top left corner, which tempts the eye of a user to be drawn naturally to first. This follows research that visitors see the website in a pattern of F-letters, according to the heatmap displayed below.
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Gestalt design laws and principles
The fifth aspect related to the psychology of website design is Gestalt design psychology. It is a theory coined by Wolfgang Kohler, Max Wertheimer, and Kurt Koffka. These individuals carried out a series of tests, in which they came to know that the eye sees what the mind informs. It means initially, humans view whole objects and then break them down into smaller pieces. There are several principles and laws merged inside the Gestalt psychology of web design.
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Maximizing the Power of Typography in Web Design
Graphic elements, colors, and space are the most important aspects of website design psychology. Font and typography are also essential for creating first impressions, as far as it is related to web design psychology. The visual components of the web design ensure how the users feel and think about it. You can select from thousands of typefaces to enhance usability and visibility.
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True Colors
The last aspect related to web design psychology is the application of true colors. To connect with the audience on an emotional level, brands take advantage of the psychological and cognitive aspects of website design. Hence, this is how they can connect with the audience on an emotional level. Thus, they gain the loyalty and trust of their target audience, turning them into customers.
Conclusion
The psychology of website design continues to evolve to engage the target audience. It has undergone several phases of adaptation and continuous learning. Thus, they resonate with the audience on a deeper level. This is how you turn your target audience into customers by implementing smart decisions. SEO is not the only factor responsible for the success of web design. Hence, while designing a website of your brand you have to look into aspects such as human psychology. For this purpose, the factors that matter most include emotional response, principles of cognition, and visual perception. Users visit your website to discover what they want. For them a website is a unified system rather than different parts merged together, each having their own psychology.