6 Factors to Consider in Digital Design

Six Factors To Consider In Digital Design

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6 Factors to Consider in Digital Design.

Digital design is a term that is more relevant today than ever. Simply stated, any kind of design, whether in an app or on a website, that appears in a digital manner, is considered a digital design. It is the design which is created so that it can be viewed on a screen

We live at a time when the success of every business is closely tied to the kind of website or mobile application it has. Without such, the business will not have any identity. The essence of our digital world does not need any kind of introduction or explanation. Each person is aware that digital marketing is the way to go for all businesses as it generates immense revenue for the business.

As we all appreciate the need for a website or mobile application, we all know that its design is what will keep visitors attracted to it. For that reason, you have an obligation to come up with an intuitive design that will amaze your visitors and competitors alike. The design must be the kind that will give you a competitive advantage and create a memorable impression.

At the end of the day, you want to choose a digital design that draws attention so that the products and services will sell themselves.

Here are the six factors that must be taken into consideration if you are to have a digital design which suits our era.

1. Understand your content and users.

You can never create a good design for something of which you have zero understanding. Therefore, the most crucial factor as you prepare to design the website or application is how much you know regarding the needed website.

The more information you have regarding your content, the better placed you will be at creating a message that resonates with your target audience. After all, the target audience is attracted to a platform which seems to have a better grasp of its content so as to avoid misinformation.

When you know your content and users, it means you are capable of customizing and improving on the experiences delivered so as to meet their needs more conveniently. We all know the power of customised experiences. To begin with, everyone gets the impression that the whole design was just for them, and this makes them feel special. It goes a long way in establishing an emotional connection that will keep them buying from you all the time.

What is your end goal with said design? Once you have a clear purpose, your attention will be drawn back to what you would like the visitors to do once they land on your website. Is it a site that will just display information, or will it do more like selling products and getting sign-ups?

2. Clean design.

There is a reason why more and more people are going online to do their shopping. In most cases, it is normally because they like the convenience that comes with online shopping. Such convenience has been made possible by the quality of design that the website is built upon. If you have a cluttered design, you will end up confusing the visitors, and they will be less interested in buying from you.

A clean design, on the other hand, keeps them coming back for more. They know how easy it was for them to perform operations on the website the last time they visited. So, they are eager to explore the site again.

Clean, intuitive, appealing, and responsive design is the equivalent of quality design. Graphics and texts have the tendency of distracting users from the most important elements. As opposed to concentrating on what the brand has to offer, the design will make them counterproductive. You need to avoid this at all possible costs.

Your digital design must be the kind that contributes to a positive user experience, a fact which is achieved using an effective colour scheme. Remember that design equates to 101% visual. If the colours you have chosen are not associated with the brand message, you will have failed in your mission.

“We’re experts at making our clients stand out through eye-catching digital design.”

3. Navigation.

We cannot over-emphasise the need for intuitive navigation. If you confuse your visitors with regards to browsing your website, there is a high chance that they will leave right away and you will never see them.

The digital design must ensure that the navigation is not only easy but also efficient. This must be done at the initial stages of the design. Once the application or website is up and running, re-configuring the navigation might be a hard thing to accomplish.

Navigation is not all about the location of links and important buttons. It is also closely tied to the language being used. You must use a user-friendly language that brings out the desired clarity. You might be creating a website that is specific to your industry. However, you must not be carried away using terms that other users will have difficulty in interpreting. Any link that takes a user more than one second to figure out is a link that might cost you dearly.

For easy navigation, remember to use web conventions. The essence of conventions is that they have been tested before and proved to work. An idea that is known to work is the kind that has a large user base.

Primary navigation ought to be brought out clearly and consistently used throughout the website. In most designs, the main menu will be stuck at the top of the web page or aligned on the sides. This makes it easy for users to jump from one section of the web page to another. To simplify navigation, make sure that your main menu contrasts against everything else to easily draw attention.

4. Right colour combination.

Designs are all about visuals and colours play a central role in actualising the kind of visual projected out there. Colour is a powerful tool that you can use to convey any desired message and mood. The mood established by your design will change based on the colour combinations. This is an art that talented designers have a good mastery of.

The colour wheel is one of the most important tools you might want to look at when choosing the colours to use in your design. This wheel is built to associate each colour with the rest. Basically, there are 12 hues on the colour wheel whereby a hue is a basic colour which hasn’t been darkened or brightened.

This comprises of primary colours – yellow, blue, and red; secondary colours – purple, green, and orange; and tertiary colours which are made by mixing the primary and secondary colours. If you have no clue of the colours to use, the colour wheel will be of great help.

Everyone reacts to colours in their own ways. Generally, colours harbour specific features which connect them to certain meanings and ideas. For instance, orange, yellow, and red are warm colours and are more active. On the other hand, blue and green tend to be calm and passive.

As you combine different colours to be used in your design, do not forget the brand message. You cannot decide on the best way to brand your company without putting colour in the equation. Even though this is the first time you are encountering the need to use colours in digital designs and branding, you will be amazed by how easy it is. For instance, the bright colours that kids’ websites use will be inappropriate for the banking sector.

5. Optimise the design

In most cases, digital designs tend to focus more on aesthetics and less on the actual user. No matter how pretty your website may be, it is of no help if it doesn’t suit the needs of your users.

This is only possible when you optimise the website such that it targets specific users.

In the current digital era, people own more than one gadget. There are those with a desktop computer, laptop, smartphone, and tablet. You can never predict the gadget that they will use to access your website. Thus, your best shot is to create a platform that will adjust based on the device it is being viewed from.

An optimised website or application is the kind that is readily available for all technological platforms in an effort to ensure your message reaches the larger public. Someone who is stuck at their workstation will likely view your website via a computer while one who is on the go will do so via a phone. There need not be any discrepancies in what each one of them sees.

Unlike in the past, modern digital designs must be mobile-first, not just responsive. A responsive website design is one that adjusts the desktop version in order to fit on the mobile. What this means is that the website was initially meant for the desktop and not a smartphone.

However, if recent data is anything to go by, more users prefer accessing websites via their phones than computers. A mobile-first website will be consumed on the mobile first and then desktop. This ensures that it looks great and functions as intended.

6. Fast load times.

As you design the website, do not forget to consider its loading speed. How fast the website or application loads is critical because it determines whether or not the user will stay on the site. Essentially, load times are a deciding factor. Your site visitor will immediately leave if it takes more than three seconds to load a resource they are looking for.

Load times are influenced by factors like whether the website is code-heavy or has optimised images. The amount of code used to create a website is closely tied to the design. If the digital design is conveniently formed, it will ensure that the code is minimised as much as possible.

Similarly, the optimisation of your images must not be left out. A good design is not all about using many images. Rather, it is about placing the images at strategic positions to convey a clear message based on the surrounding text.

If you do not prioritise load times, you risk losing visitors and recording high bounce rates. Bounce rates refer to the number of people who leave the site after visiting only one or two pages. These are the kind of people who clicked on the link, saw that it took quite long to load and decided to look for the same product elsewhere. As you might have guessed by now, a high bounce rate is not good for business.

Digital design is important to consider on websites across desktops, laptops, and smartphones

Quality digital design service.

If you are looking for a professional digital design service, edirect is here for you. This is something we have been doing for more than two decades, giving us the experience needed to design a website or application which takes your business to the next level. Get in touch with edirect today, the leading digital design agency that ensures you have a competitive advantage.

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