Recently, one of my clients was struggling with how they wanted to show their company information on their website. We had a conversation about how I thought the page flow should be designed.

Good web design manages the content and creates a layered structure so that we are gently guided to the right place to find our answers.

The challenge is making the visitor experience as simple and straight forward as possible. Good user interface and information management is a must to meet the needs of today’s online visitors.

Crafting the Website Content

Organize the information like you’re planting a garden. Each pot should have exactly the right mix to be a complete ecosystem, but is also an integral piece of the entire garden and its overall beauty. As such, each page should be a standalone chapter to the entire website story and must be a necessary part of the whole.

Tip: Start with an outline of the pages you want on your site. Flesh out the outline with your page content. Ask yourself these questions before you begin: 1. What does the visitor need to know on this page to make a decision? What is the action I want the visitor to take? Where should I direct them if they want more information? Knowing these answers will make writing the content more focused and will create a much more effective web page.

Digging Deeper Into The Web Page

Defining the Use of Space

I often think of each web page as positive and negative space. And with each page, there are so many goals to achieve.

• Fill the space with only the information needed,
• Guide your visitors to various areas of your website for more detailed information,
• Provide ways for clients to interact with your business at various stages of their decision process,
• Brand your company with visual messaging,
• Craft the content message to pull visitors into the site.

The challenge is accomplishing each of these goals in the right balance to be effective. If done right, navigating through the information on a website becomes an intuitive journey.

The end page is a product of careful consideration of design, color, space, content, message and message delivery. It’s a subtle dance of form and function. Too much of any one thing and the page is not in balance. Without balance, it cannot effectively support the entire website story.

Remember: Give content space to make an impact.

Just like in real life, too many things demanding our attention on a single web page gives us the sense of being over-crowded. Each action must be bold to stand out –all competing for our attention. Rather than make a decision, we choose to click away and go to a website that doesn’t assault our senses and provides an easier decision process.