Photo by Anete Lūsiņa / Unsplash
Personalized and responsive websites are modern ways to showcase your creative work and accomplishments. An attractive, easy-to-navigate website allows viewers to get a look into your practice, ongoing projects, or you can even show off your web design skills. Making your website capture the essence of your work can seem overwhelming, but you can apply these basic tips to make your website more interactive and appealing to your audience base.
Update Quality Content Regularly
No one wants to see stale, outdated content when they visit a website. Try Always ensure that your content is fresh and up-to-date, referring to hot topics and trends in your field. Keep track of your posts by creating a content calendar. Whatever that content may be, providing a constant stream of unique, high-quality work helps build a loyal and interested following. Creating new content also helps your website reach more visibility and new visitors through search engine listings.
Strengthen Brand Identity With Typography
Typography is a central component in web design. The form and shape letters hold can create a distinct identity for your brand or evoke different moods and character.
Think of what message or theme you want to communicate to your audience. Take the Nike font for example: It has simple and bold lettering that makes it an easily recognizable “check” design that conveys achievement. In contrast, fonts that have more elegance and finesse like Cartier would reflect the extravagant attitudes of the brand. Utilizing single or multiple fonts can also affect the tone of your site. One font would keep things clean and minimal, while a combination of fonts can create more sophisticated, complex designs.
Attract Visitors with an Expressive Color Scheme
Having well-organized color schemes on your website can make your site visually cohesive and engaging. A lack of color could look too lifeless, while too much would make it too hectic and unprofessional. How do you want your color palette to project your brand? Neutral colors suggest formality or sophistication, while bright, primary colors suggest warmth and friendliness.
Color wheels are helpful tools in determining harmonious color schemes. For example, colors on opposing ends of a color wheel, or complementary colors, are visually appealing when placed together and help bring balance into a design. You can generate your own color schemes here.
Include Links to Your Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms are the hub of supplemental branding and communication. Having social media links on your website helps to drive more traffic onto your website, while also strengthening your online identity and presence as a creator. This also allows your site content to reach specific audiences within social media platforms. You don’t need to be a high-profile influencer, but your audience will be much more receptive to you and your work if they feel like they can get to know the creative behind the art.
Feature User-Generated Content
Whether this be in the form of forums, polls, or hashtag contests, user-generated content gives you a direct line of interaction with your audience. What better way of showing you value your fans than by providing a platform for their content? Communication between you and your audience is a key step in forming meaningful and genuine relationships that help to support your creative career. Providing resources to create user-generated content can also foster online communities, making your website expand beyond your portfolio of work.
This content is from Session 6 of the course Web Development and Design Using WordPress from California Institute of the Arts. Want more tips and tricks for building a brilliant user-friendly website? Join the course below:
Web Development and Design Using WordPress
California Institute of the Arts