Design within boundaries of an "image-safe" area

Anticipate your users' screen resolution settings and the size of their monitors. Use this information to define a dimension for the "image-safe" area. Allow room for browser elements such as navigation buttons and scroll bars. In the illustration to the right, the main title "Forget Me Not" does not fit into the image-safe area. This may misinform users, because unless they widen the browser window, they will read the message as "Forget Me."

Design in a style that will appeal to your audience's tastes

Use your audience profile and strategy definition to define a visual style for your site which they will find appealing. A reference site for a general corporate audience will need to convey a different image than a site which should appeal to restaurant managers and hobbyist connoisseurs interested in exotic fruit.

Test the visual design

Before you begin coding and creating the visuals for your site, ask users to evaluate the planned visual style. Create some quick paper sketches that are easily revised. Offer your participants alternative sketches of different designs. Consider asking each participant the following questions:

• What would you perceive as the purpose of the site based on this presentation?

• What would you be looking for once you arrived at the site?

• What would you do next after seeing this presentation?

• What do you like and dislike about the presentation? (ask about the user's reaction to the metaphor if a metaphor is used in the presentation)

• What impression would you form of the company [organization] based on the visual style?

Creating simple sketches are valuable not only for soliciting feedback from users, but also for communicating your purpose and plans to other team members.

Establish and/or comply with your organization's design conventions

Many organizations have an established set of design conventions that dictate how their logo and related elements of corporate identity are to appear on stationery and other materials. Consistent design conventions help your organization become more recognizable to the public. If your organization does not have a set of design conventions that apply to web design, you might suggest that one be established.

Maintain consistent visual identity

Establish a visual identity by using related visual elements throughout your site. A consistent visual style gives a site a sense of unity and reinforces users' experience that they are rooted in a certain place.

Present your message efficiently and avoid clutter

Your words and your design will be more powerful if you can say more with less, so be rigorous about eliminating superfluous elements. Every element of your design should support the goal of your message. While using purely decorative elements is legitimate, keep in mind that a tremendous amount of information is competing for users' attention. Information overload can cause discomfort and prevent users from finding the information they want to find.

Draw attention to new or greatly changed content

Regularly updating your site will increase its value and give users incentive to return. Make it easy for users to see what you have added and when you added it as soon as they enter your site. Enable users to go directly to the new information without wasting time reviewing areas they have already seen. You can provide direct links from a "What's New?" area to the new information.

Avoid requiring users to scroll in order to determine page contents

Users should be able to recognize immediately whether the subject of any given page interests them. Elements that are critical to identifying page contents need to be visible in the image-safe area without scrolling.

Avoid requiring the use of horizontal scroll bars