Website Envy: How to get your visuals to look like those sites you lust after

When I was a kid, my parents used to drag us through model homes on the weekends. They weren’t looking to move, they just wanted to see what was new and fabulous.

I used to get kid’s room envy. Big time.

The rooms were always immaculate, with the coolest beds. A pirate ship? They have pirate ship beds? Can I have one?

This was the ’80s, so there was usually a fake Apple IIe juxtaposed with a huge, Captain-themed desk. Rope ladders that disappeared into a ceiling mural of a crow’s nest, pointing toward a hurricane sky. Awesome.

Mom, can we live here?

When you see really gorgeous, art-driven sites with lots of eye candy, it’s kind of like browsing model homes. You want to move your content in and put your own books on the shelves. Mine.

Think about this: what will you really do with that rope ladder?

We love to look at pretty web sites and we all want our own to inspire eye drool (if we’re being honest with ourselves). They can. We just have to be smart about it.

Damn. I know how you feel. I hate being “smart” about creative stuff, too.

Purpose-driven visuals

Imagine if you filled every blog post, your about page, and your sales pages with random, pretty words? It might look like this:

Serendipity swimming gorgeous lily onomatopoeia banana nostril silvery flicker…

You get the point. Those words may be lovely to read, but they don’t tell us anything about what we’re doing on the site. While we’re at it, those words aren’t equally lovely to everyone. It’s a pretty subjective thing.

Ask yourself if the graphics on your site are like this. Are they a hodge-podge of different styles and randomly selected bits of fluff?

The reason we admire the “pretty” sites aren’t simply because they have great graphics. It’s because the graphic elements they use have a purpose.

The graphics support the content.

Figuring out the best visuals for your site is hard. It takes time. There are a bazillion choices possible and by the way – it’s hard for me, too.

But there is a way to help narrow down the choices and at least get some clarity and a sense of direction. You even have some of the answers already waiting for you, right inside your content.

Sometimes it’s obvious. If you bake squirrel pies, putting a photo of a gorgeous bayou sunset will throw people off. Even if it’s the sunset you see out your kitchen window while you skin squirrels, not many folks are gonna get that unless you spell it out.

On a web site, you have a very short time to communicate an idea with only visuals. In this case I would suggest a photo of you smiling, in front of the gorgeous bayou sunset, holding a dead squirrel. No explanation required.

Hopefully if you’re running a business site you’ve already got a logo that works. Put it in your header. If your logo looks as out of place as squirrel pie at a State dinner, you need to either rethink your logo or your web site.

What if you sell products? Putting an image next to the product name can really help fix that product in the viewer’s mind. If you’re with me so far, you’ll understand why I would suggest putting some sort of iconic audio-based graphic next to an audio recording.

But what should it be?

Before you just grab the closest piece of clipart, think about this. It may seem obvious that the best graphic to represent an mp3 download would be something digitally-themed, like the iTunes icon or equalizer bars. Remember:

The graphics support the content.

If your site is about making squirrel pies, think about the fact that it’s not immediately seen as an ultra-modern activity. Skinning critters is kinda folksy.

How about an old Victrola? Or one of those humongous retro mics?

The Reason You Love that Site

The object of your web site envy may have beautiful imagery. That can be enough to make you swoon, but think about what you do on the site. Do you spend time there or just admire the scenery? Could you describe something you learned from the site or point someone there to make a purchase?

The thing is, the great site designs use nice imagery with a purpose. The main purpose is to draw you in, sure. The secondary purpose is to guide you to the content.

If you see a gorgeous site and you click away without participating in the content (reading a blog post, learning a new skill, finding out about a product), then the site has failed.

When you’re planning visuals to use on your site, start with your content. It’s a lot harder than picking out the prettiest pictures, but it could be the difference between visitors who just envy and visitors who stick around to find out more.