Stop for a moment and answer these three questions about your website:
- What is your most important message? (If you only had their attention for 5 seconds, what would you want them to immediately know?)
- What do you want visitors to do?
- What is your measure of conversion? (Sales, email subscriptions, etc.)
There is beauty in simplicity. There is truth in “less is more”. As a shop that frequently designs and develops websites – one of our most important tasks is in determining (and focusing on) our client’s primary calls to action – the actions they want their site visitors to take and the behaviors they want to influence.
The idea of “white space” is synonymous with the idea of “designing with intent” – being purposeful in the layout and aesthetic that is in-line with your vision and goals. If you offer too much – if you try to be everything to everyone – you’ll end up with a jumbled mess of messages that don’t inspire action from anyone.
Yes, it’s important to have your most important message “above the fold” – but the idea that people will not scroll is a myth (seriously, it’s been scientifically proven). Your visitors will scroll, if your offering scroll-worthy content (yes, I just coined the term “scroll-worthy”).
The ultimate takeaway from this conversation is to prioritize. It’s why we begin our branding process with a conversation on vision, goals, big dreams, and calls to action. You almost certainly have many things you want your web visitors to do – from learning more about you, identifying your services, reading your content, subscribing, buying, and so on – even the most basic website will point you in many directions. But today, you’re tasked with prioritizing these goals – and then finding a way to reflect those priorities in your website theme design.
Don’t be afraid to let things breathe a little. Embrace white space. Prioritize. Focus.
You’ll thank me later.