Understanding and Executing a Creative Website Design

Influencing digital consumer behavior is an art form. In large part, it takes a creative website design to be successful. According to a recent survey of 500 consumers, 50 percent agree that an impactful website design is crucial in establishing trust in a business’ overall brand identity. What exactly does that consist of? Consumers look for:

• Interesting visual elements;
• A responsive and functional layout;
• Cohesion in the font and color scheme;
• User-friendly navigation. 

Seems like a lot of boxes to check, right? 

But with any type of digital presence, an effective, trustworthy and well-functioning website (and users who agree) is imperative. A creative website design is about more than just an eye-catching first impression. It also facilitates a positive user experience (UX) that will convert leads into customers and entice them to return for more. How your website looks and operates could mean the difference between a visitor who leaves without taking action, compared to a prospect turned conversion.  

So, to help attract a larger online audience, increase brand recognition and credibility and fill your sales funnel, follow these four essential tips for a “wow-worthy” creative website design.   

1. Make Sure Colors and Fonts Send a Consistent Message

Cohesion is the mark of a recognizable brand, so the fonts and colors you choose must be consistent across your site. Colors and fonts help craft the tone of your brand, so think about what you want these elements to communicate to visitors. Take a look at our client’s site below. There are two font families and four main brand colors used, creating a clean and cohesive design. 

Home page from our client, Vineyard Senior Living

The brain actually has an emotional and psychological response to different colors and fonts, so you want to make sure the reaction you evoke is consistent with your brand message. The design experts at Canva explain how the following typefaces and color schemes can impact consumer emotions in intentional ways:

Font Psychology: 

• Serif Fonts: Used to evoke trust, authority, respect and formality. Seen as reliable, classic and traditional (Times New Roman, Georgia, Courier); 
• Sans Serif Fonts: Used to evoke modernity, tech-savviness, boldness and innovation. Seen as straightforward and sleek (Arial, Calibri, Helvetica);
• Script Fonts: Used to evoke whimsy, sophistication, elegance and creativity. Seen as having a personal touch (Pacifico, Allura, Monotype Corsiva).

Color Psychology: 

• Warm Colors: Used to evoke intensity, confidence, power, energy, warmth, passion, strength and vitality, optimism and intellect (red, yellow, orange);
• Cool Colors: Used to evoke abundance, growth, stability, renewal, freshness, calm, trust, harmony, nostalgia and spirituality (blue, purple, green);
• Neutral Colors: Used to evoke order, earthiness, simplicity, minimalism, depth, texture, boldness, transparency and professionalism (black, white, brown).  

Keep in mind that a lack of focus or strategy in the colors and fonts you choose will distract visitors’ attention and clash with the message you want to send. For example, have you ever landed on a very visually busy and loud website (think bright or garish colors, too much going on, crowded text)? You likely immediately hit the back button to navigate away, right? This is why visual cohesion matters so much for an impactful, creative website design and proper UX.

2. Use Interactive Multimedia Elements to Keep the Visitors Engaged

Photos, charts and other static imagery do have their place in website design, but interactive multimedia content, like video, attracts the most visitors. According to a 2021 report from Wyzowl, 86 percent of marketers confirm video boosts website traffic. While 84 percent report it helps them generate more leads, and 83 percent say it increases the amount of time users spend on a page. Even more compelling, 78 percent say videos directly correlate to sales. Pretty convincing stats! 

Online users want to interact with visual content rather than just scroll through passively. Sure, you can explain the value of your products or services with a static paragraph of text. But you can also show website visitors with a dynamic video, animated infographic, multitouch photo gallery or data visualization tool. So instead of consuming information, they’ll become immersed in a sensory experience.

For example, the customized data dashboard we provide 10x clients for lead generation is an awesome tool but can be difficult to understand at first, especially for those not in the digital marketing world. So we created an animated motion-graphic video to illustrate the value we provide our clients. (You can watch the full version here!) We know our clients need data-backed lead generation strategies, but they might not know how or why. So we outline our process in a quick, fun and interactive way! 

Interactive multimedia can also be a unique way to offer assistance, elicit feedback and glean relevant data from consumers. For example, online surveys and quizzes tell you what your target audience is interested in, so you can adapt marketing initiatives accordingly. And animated chatbots can deliver real-time customer service or troubleshoot technical issues in both a convenient and conversational format. 

Remember, a creative website design is not only aesthetically pleasing to look at but should be fun to engage with too.

3. Be Clean and Strategic with the Contrast of Images to White Space

Visual elements draw in the eye, but excessive content can be a deterrent for users and make the website feel busy, cluttered or even amateurish. As the website optimization experts at Crazy Egg point out, “You don’t want to overload your site visitors with too much information… You should be able to create a website that has a single focus. It should have a clear design and purpose that your audience can jive with. How do you achieve clarity on a website? One way is to keep the [layout] simple.” 

You can still experiment with the creative website design features we talked about earlier. However, you’ll need to offset these visuals with basic white space to give the brain and eyes a break from all that stimuli. White space is a negative, or blank, area in the layout, but just because it isn’t filled with images or text doesn’t make it unimportant. 

The effective placement of white space creates a sense of balance and flow. It directs the visitor’s attention to the features you want them to focus on most (i.e., CTAs) and gives your content room to breathe, explains Hubspot. A design without adequate white space reads like one “indigestible chunk of information,” making it hard for users to process and retain any material on the website. 

You could have the most original, unique and creative website design out there, but if it’s so crammed with graphic elements that visitors lose your overall brand message, it will fall short. So contrast images and text with deliberate margins of white space for a clean, structured and symmetrical flow that users can easily absorb. 

4. Ensure that All Visuals and Content Are Optimized for Mobile

Your website might look and function optimally on a desktop browser, but if the design is not compatible with mobile devices, it’s a deal-breaker. According to a survey of more than 200 web designers, 73 percent believe a lack of mobile responsiveness causes users to leave a site. This makes sense, considering that smartphones accounted for nearly 55 percent of global website traffic in 2021.  

If the content won’t load correctly on a mobile device, visual media won’t fit within the screen display, and mobile users will bounce. So, if your website itself is hard to navigate on a non-desktop browser, you need to rethink your design elements. A mobile responsive website should be aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly on all platforms. 

Get to Work on a Creative Website Design for Your Brand

If you want to learn more about executing a creative website design to help increase organic traffic and boost lead conversions, our 10x team would love to help. Our web design and development services will ensure the site not only looks fresh and gives a solid first impression but also maintains a cohesive brand identity and delivers a high-quality user experience. Contact us to chat!