Design elements are visual creativity’s main aspects, including shapes, spaces, lines, textures, colors, and forms. Graphic designers use them to create images carrying desired moods, evoke a feeling, or draw attention in a certain way. Web graphics are very similar to design elements for being visual creations used on websites to represent a feeling or an idea in a way that will drive more traffic to a website.
This article will discuss why graphic elements are used and how they can improve a website’s look. We’ll start by identifying some terms and then dive deeper into more details.
Why are web graphics used?
Web graphics are important for clearer illustrations and are used to impact users emotionally, educate and entertain them, and improve the accessibility of web interfaces significantly. There are many forms of web graphics; some of the main ones are maps. Images, videos, design patterns, family trees, diagrams, typography, bar charts, pie charts, schematics, line art, and menus.
Graphic designers have many software, apps, and technological tools to help them. They use such tools to improve their work and save time and effort; an example of these tools is pixel art brush procreate.
How can graphic elements improve a website’s look?
1. Images and videos
Big blocks of text overwhelm website visitors, and they are obnoxious and uninviting. Images are easier on the eyes than text, so including them relieves the viewers and gives a more inviting look to the website. Images are also used to highlight certain features of different products or the business.
Images can be for the business, the team, the workplace, the products, or anything related to the website’s content; an in-house photographer or a professional can take them. People often look at and care for the images more than the text, so make sure to use high-quality ones that give a good impression of the business.
Videos are also a very enticing element to include on a website, and there are two types of them:
- The ones that automatically play in the background
- The ones that are linked to YouTube or other video platforms
They can help better explain services or products, how to use them, answer questions about them, or tell a story about the business. They reduce the amount of the needed written content and are much more intriguing for visitors. And like with images, people are more drawn to videos than text; they would rather watch or hear a video than read a big block of text.
2. Typography
Having a unique font helps give the website an expensive and more attractive look. It sets the website apart from the competitors and makes it easier for users to identify it and its content.
In recent years, graphic designers have gained access to a wide selection of new and interesting fonts that benefited websites and businesses greatly and gave them a new way to express themselves.
Many different design elements can be used on web pages, and typography is the one that ties the whole thing together and gives the whole website a unified look.
Typography also helps in giving impressions about the website. Depending on the chosen font, the visitors can tell if the website is serious or fun, functional or informative.
The font should be readable by all and applicable across different computers and browsers, or the website will risk looking awkward.
Hamburger menus
They are called hamburger menus because, traditionally, they are composed of three equal lines stacked on top of each other.
Some developers think they are not functional because their presence gets in the way of immediately seeing the menu. So if what is wanted is functionality, they are probably not the best choice. However, when it comes to looks, they are an element worthy of experimenting with.
Hamburger menus are not only pretty but also save a ton of valuable screen space and are initiative and easy for users to navigate.
Web pages must not be overly complicated and have a clear and easy path for users to take. That gives these menus value; they ensure a distraction-free experience, increasing the possibility of users finding what they came for and completing an action.
Finally
There are many graphic elements to choose from; each has its role. Those mentioned above are the most common ones that can be used on websites regardless of their content, which is usually central in picking out what elements to include in a design.
