Test the visual impact of your site
See if your site's making the right impact

Have you ever visited a web site that seemed almost effortless to use? It was easy on your eyes. You easily found what you were looking for. You felt good using the site.

On the other hand, have you ever visited a site and shaken your head—or even left the site—because the site was so busy and there was so much to look at? Banner ads, animations, headlines, bright colors, tons of text.

This stark difference demonstrates the affects of visual design and the powerful impact it has on web site visitors.

Here's a fun way to test the visual impact of your own web site, without using any fancy technology...

1. Get comfortable in front of your computer and browse to your web site's home page. As soon as the page displays, close your eyes.
    
2. Relax a moment. When you're ready, open your eyes and look around the page—for just 5-10 seconds—then close your eyes or turn away from the computer.
    
3. Relax again and recall what you saw.

• What do you remember seeing? Many items? Just a couple?
• Were they specific items, like individual words, phrases, or images?
• Were they general items, like colors or shapes? Try the experiment a few times, and see if you recall different things.
   
• Did you recall the most important messages you want to communicate on your home page?
• Did you recall benefits, competitive strengths, or calls to action?
• Or, did you recall banner ad logos, tag lines, or other items that should actually be secondary to your home page messages?

This is a great experiment to begin learning about what draws visual attention. The real value comes from learning how to draw just the right amount of attention to the information your web site visitors are looking for and the messages you want to communicate.

Tips:

• Use stronger, brighter colors for important items visitors want to find easily or that you want your visitors to see easily
• Use a few larger headlines or pull-quotes to highlight key points or messages
• Choose graphic or photo dimensions that are not so large that they draw attention away from important text on the page.
• Use bullet lists with short phrases to call attention to important features or benefits
• Use adequate 'white space' around different sections of the page, making it easier for the eye to focus on each section
• Use balanced composition—position page elements so they complement each other and create a visual 'flow' around the entire page