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Designing Visual Appeal.

The content of a web site is the number one reason users will visit, yet visual appeal still has its place. An unattractive site or one with a visual style that does not fit with its themes will confuse visitors or drive them away. The design of a site also speaks about its trustworthiness; visitors are less likely to trust content on a site that looks shoddy and hastily put together.

Whatever a site's message, the design can enhance it with the appropriate color, form, and text styles. After defining the target audience and their needs through the information architecture process, designs can be created that will appeal to that audience while communicating the themes of the site.

Here's a quick look at the style development process:

  1. Concept: Discuss the themes of the site to develop a concept or metaphor that the design will represent. For example, the site of an online art gallery might take on the look of a real-world art gallery where different styles of art are displayed in separate "rooms" and navigation is performed by clicking on a "gallery map".

  2. Initial Sketches: Several different design "sketches" are created and provided to the client.

  3. Refinement: The most promising ideas are refined into a couple of polished images which are again provided to the client.

  4. HTML Mock-Up: An HTML version of the best design is created, providing a depiction of the design "in action"; this mock-up can be used to see how the design might work on different displays and in different browsing environments.

  5. Templates: Graphics are optimized for download and HTML is refined and formed into page templates that will encapsulate content. Cascading style sheets are created to properly format content, particularly text.

  6. Style Guides: Each type of content will be described along with guidelines for how it is to be displayed, guaranteeing a uniform and professional presentation across the site.

At the end of the style development process, design of the site's visual characteristics will be complete and the design will be ready to enter production.