As my role at Valitics grows and evolves, I don't get to do web design work nearly as often as I used to. When I do get a chance to work on the design end of a project, I try to really make it count. That goes way beyond "making it look good."
We are working on a redesign and optimization project for an existing client of ours. Basically, our client has been so successful in what they do that they are attracting more and more, and bigger and bigger clients to their company. That is great, but their website needs to grow and improve just like the rest of their organization has. The goal of the redesign and optimization project we are doing is to update our client's page structure, page content and visual design to better align their website to the needs of their new target customers.
Here are the requirements for the new homepage I am tasked with redesigning:
- Appeal to two different and distinct types of users (small v. large nonprofit CFOs)
- Get users to choose the type of customer (small v. large) they would be for our client and "learn more"
- Make sure users choose the right type of customer they actually would be for our client
- Do not distract users from making that choice
- Give users a secondary call to action as a back up if they are not ready to make the primary decision
Here's my thought process thus far on how to accomplish these goals, in no particular order:
- Keep it simple - Get rid of any design elements that don't matter. Make the "right" decision very obvious to users.
- Don't get cute - Respect the user's time and don't throw them a curve ball. Stick to proven norms and conventions. Make sure the next step is a familiar one for users. They'll be much more likely to take it if they have a good idea of what's next.
- Focus attention - Focusing users’ attention to a specific area with visual elements will get users where they need to go without having to think about what to do next.
- Use words that matter - Gets to the point. No fluff. no business talk. Just tell the users what they want to hear.
- Use the spaces in between - White space in design is like a comma or a period in writing; it helps users make sense of what's grouped together, when to stop and breathe, and when to move on to the next piece of information.
- Prove it - Prove the value of the design by monitoring and documenting the improvement the new homepage design has generated. Scour the data for additional opportunities for improvement.