Whatever your business, you’ll know that you need to appeal to consumers’ emotions if you’re going to win their business. While it’s important to look at your web design from the perspective of its aesthetics, you can’t ignore the psychology behind the design choices you make.
An article for TechGenyz recently took a deep dive into the psychology of web design, explaining how using an understanding of psychology can significantly improve the design of, and therefore the results you get from, your website.
It highlighted three areas from psychology that it’s important to know about when you’re working on a new design for your website.
First up is the limbic system. This is the part of our brain that’s responsible for our memories, as well as the reaction we have to positive experiences.
Fundamentally what you’re looking for is to create those positive memories among people who visit your site, so that they not only return to it but also recommend it to their friends.
Next, the publication talked about the neocortex, which is the part of our brain that seeks out information. It’s the logical side of our brain that will typically be looking for informational content on a website.
Finally, there’s cognition, which is how we process all the information we’re taking in. Our brain can only process so much information at once, and when it’s working hard we can experience what’s known as cognitive stress.
Minimising this is clearly important to providing your users or consumers with a smooth and stress-free experience.
This is also why user experience (UX) design is “simple, intuitive and easy to understand”, the publication explained. UX design is all about creating a pleasant experience for your users (ticking the limbic system), while providing the information users are looking for (covering off the neocortex) and making this as streamlined as possible (avoiding cognitive stress).
So, how does this show up in the physical design elements you might be working with?
Colour, font and typography are all important elements to consider because they “can elicit a diverse range of feelings” the website explained.
An article for Social Media Today last year highlighted just how much of an impact colour can have on our choices as consumers.
It shared data from WebFX, which revealed that 84.7 per cent of consumers said colour was the primary reason they bought a specific product. Interestingly, 52 per cent of shoppers also said that they didn’t return to a store due to its overall aesthetic.
This means getting the overall look of your online shop right can mean the difference between attracting repeat customers and not.
An impressive 80 per cent of those surveyed also believed that colour increases brand recognition, so it’s certainly well worth considering how you can incorporate your specific brand colours into your design to help make your website and any associated online advertising easily recognisable.
Navigating all of these elements behind the psychology of design is a challenge on your own, so get assistance with your website design in Inverness and tap into our expertise in this field.