Navigation is the process of finding and moving through different pages on a website. It is a vital aspect of user experience and can greatly impact how people interact with a website.
Graphic design plays a crucial role in how people interact with a website and the way they navigate it. The way a website looks and feels can greatly impact the user experience and ultimately affect their decisions while on the website. By better understanding the psychological factors that can influence peoples behavior, graphic designers are potentially able to create more effective designs that help people enjoy their time spent navigating the various web-pages.
We have a habit of discussing navigation every now and then since it is such an important aspect of almost any online-business. This time we would like to hone in on a few significant elements of navigation itself, chief of them being hierarchy and how to utilize it whenever we are putting out content on our website.
Hierarchizing your content
Do not forget that navigation is not merely for its own sake, it is supposed to guide the visitor to the information they desire about this or that subject, or maybe something they might be potentially interested in. This latter factor is best relied on when you have a good sense of who your audience is and what they generally are interested in.
Hierarchy refers to the arrangement of elements in a design so that the most important information is presented first. This can be achieved through the use of size, color, and other visual cues. By creating a clear visual hierarchy, designers can guide users through a website and make it easy for them to find the most important information.
For example, a headline can be made larger and more prominent than body copy to indicate that it is more important. By making calls to action stand out, designers can increase the chances of users taking a given action. Additionally, you can use contrast, proximity, and other visual cues to create a sense of hierarchy and guide users through the design.
Another important aspect of hierarchy is the the process of grouping related elements together. This can help make it clear how different elements on a website are related. By grouping information you can also make navigational chains that were not available prior.
Content Linking
If you have any other content available, it is better to avoid thinking that everyone is simply on your website to convert. Some might be checking in on our projects, blogs or the like. It is useful to give these kinds of users a pleasant navigational experience as well. If not for ethical reasons, then because they are more likely to visit you again and possibly convert some other time.
The nice advantage of having a lot of blog posts on your website is that you can deliver heaps of information by just linking stuff together. This process takes essentially no time and can massively improve your efforts at creating a more enjoyable website.
That is why we specifically created Linkers, a platform that has various tools specifically developed to help you take better advantage of any links you posts. Anyone who clicks on a given link can be grouped in order for you to personalize your content (such as blogs, ads, sales, etc).
This allows you to market to people who are likely to actually want to be marketed in this or that way, since they are interested in the subject/product/service.
The summary
In conclusion, navigation and hierarchy are crucial aspects of graphic design that greatly impact user experience and conversion rates. Additionally, by creating a clear visual hierarchy and guiding users through the design, designers can increase conversions by making it easy for users to find the most important information on a website.
Do not forget that it all comes down to making the experience of the customer better. Viewing your strategic decisions this way will likely help you deliver a much better product.