Why Web Designers Should Focus On Emotion In Their Work

In this day and age, it seems that web designers are too focused on the aesthetics of their work and not enough on the emotion of it. Whilst gradients, colours and contrast are all very important factors in a successful website, but all this will be done in vain if the web designer cannot embody the emotion that goes with the theme of the site. So, how can emotions be more focused upon and why is this so important?

Essentially, emotions are important in design because they are important in everything – what are the three most memorable moments of your life? Your wedding or the day you bought your first home? The birth of a child or the death of a loved one? No matter what moments you choose, it is likely the each of them is going to have been a time that involved a considerable amount of emotion. Web designers endeavour to make their websites as memorable as possible (so that people will return) and, as such, emotion plays a large role in achieving this.

Many web designers become stuck on the graphics and the usability of their websites, but these elements actually form the bare minimum of what any good site should entail. It is time to look beyond these elements by ensuring that visitors to your website develop an emotional attachment to it, but how is this possible? Begin thinking about the type of people who are likely to visit the site and what frame of mind they are likely to be in:

• Desire: Make visitors want to browse your website, and want to return at a later date. Use words that speak to the jealous sector of people’s minds, such as powerful and revolution. It is in cases like these that the old adage “sex sells” rings true.
• Sympathy:This is achieved successfully by the multitude of charity websites out there – they instill a sense of sadness and sympathy deep inside the visitor, making them want to reach out and help.
• Anger:Believe it or not, it has been suggested that some websites deliberately make their visitors angry (by stuffing up orders and so on) so that they can make themselves look great by giving the visitor a refund and sending them the product anyway.

At the end of the day, excellent functionality and usability is no longer going to cut it in this cut throat world of internet obsession – web designers need to look deeper into the emotional state of their visitors and ask themselves what sort of emotional reaction they are hoping to achieve. Being successful in this respect will ensure success across all areas of the site.