The Right Mix Between Content And Graphics In Web Design

Content vs Graphics

One of the most important big-picture questions in web design is settling on the right balance between pictures, graphics, and visual content and written content. There are several factors that influence this decision, and it can vary both for each page and across different sites. In this post, we will explore how much of each type of content to include and why.

Over the past several years, design has shifted more and more in favor of visual content. Designers have learned that readers don’t want to trawl through long blocks of text, because it is fatiguing to the eye. Moreover, a site visitor often has a narrow goal, one particular piece of information they want to learn. If they have to sort through too much text to find it, they will move on to a different site. When designing a site, ensure that there is just enough written content to answer the questions that site visitors have and no more. Infographics can help convey knowledge in a compact and visually appealing way. Images break up text and relieve the eyes. From this perspective, written content is the meat and will drive the most leads, but visual content is the sauce that keeps visitors interested.

It’s also important to consider mobility. Depending on the site, half or more of all traffic could originate on a mobile device. More visual content, especially animations or other complex elements, can be a problem on mobile browsers. It won’t look the same, so it has to resize properly. It also eats up data in visitors’ phone plans and slows down load times. Think about how much mobile traffic you get. It might be necessary to reduce the amount of visuals and images for the mobile site or even on both sites to ensure that mobile users still get a good experience.

The two biggest considerations for the use of graphics are making use of it to support visual content and staying aware of mobile visitors. Checking your success requires frequent tests to see if pages with more content are getting attention from visitors or are driving them away. Try out some A/B testing with graphics-heavy and text-heavy designs and see which is more successful. In general, images and graphics can give your site character and appeal, but only if you use them in a thoughtful and carefully-planned strategy. If you insert too many visuals for their own sake, it’ll backfire. Consult a design firm like 445 Media for guidance on the best balance for your site.


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