Perception

Perception is the ability to become aware and understand our surroundings through our senses. Visual perception, specifically, is the ability to perceive the world through the light that enters our eyes. There are a few ways to assist visual perception and create more effective landing pages.

Create some breathing space

White space is the empty or low in information areas of the design. It’s also the space between individual design elements like typography, paragraphs, buttons, images and so on. It is the breathing space that guides the eye around the page, makes the content easily scannable, increases readability and visual hierarchy improving comprehension. It helps with focus and can be used strategically around buttons, for example, to boost their visibility.

“White space is to be regarded as an active element, not a passive background.” — Jan Tschichold

Place your content strategically

Studies have shown we scan web pages heavy in content following an F shaped pattern. While for pages with less content our eyes move following a Z pattern. The Z pattern is usually the most suited for the shorter and more focused Landing Pages. Placing key elements like significant information and buttons on the F or Z areas will help with content discoverability and will boost conversion.

Establish a strong visual hierarchy

Visual hierarchy refers to the visual weight of graphic elements and their arrangement in a way which allows people to comprehend and navigate through content effortlessly. By assigning different visual weights to the page elements, you can influence the order in which people perceive information and interact with the content. Colour, font size or weight, imagery and video can be used to boost hierarchy.

Group information

Proximity, Similarity and Common Region are the most essential Gestalt principles to apply for grouping information. The Proximity principle states that related items should stay close to each other, while the unrelated ones should stay further apart, and this will boost visual hierarchy and scannability. Similarly, the Common Region principle states that visual elements placed within the same region are perceived as related, and this helps with grouping information or actions. The Similarity principle states that look-alike objects are perceived as related, and this helps with organising and associating them with a specific meaning or function.

Make your CTA visible and clickable

In a Landing Page, the call-to-action is the number one element that needs to always be visible and easy to target. A unique, bright or high in contrast colour with white space around it, will help it stand out. A bold and clean font will make it easy to read. While, according to Fitts law, making it big and placing it in proximity to the cursor or finger will make it easier to interact with.

“The time required to reach a target is based on the distance from the starting point and the size of the target.” — Fitts law

Boost readability with the use of visual prompts

Color, iconography, imagery, video, typography, titles, paragraphs and bullet points are all examples of visual elements that can be used to boost readability and improve the performance of your landing page.

Colour has the ability to generate emotions, classify information and create a visual language. Iconography, imagery and video will support complicated ideas or just make the content more interesting and less overwhelming. Clean typography in different sizes and weights will improve legibility while assisting hierarchy. Short paragraphs and bullet points will help people focus their attention, read and understand the information presented with ease.

Be specific and avoid jargon

“How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but how well we are understood.” — Andrew Grove

Clarity is possibly the most important principle to apply. For people to act, they have to understand your offering. Get to know your audience and use the language that they comfortably understand. Avoid jargon and don’t get too gimmicky trying to be smart or funny. Get to the point and value of your product or service as soon as possible with as fewer words as possible.

Keep it short

Research indicates that the average line length for supporting readability is about 70 characters, including the spaces. Additionally, successful paragraphs are no more than five or six sentences long without exciting the 200 characters mark. Breaking down the content in short digestible sections will improve your page’s performance.

“Removing page elements can be just as effective at increasing conversions as adding or tweaking elements on a page.” — Mona Elesseily

Same goes for forms as they have to be as compact as possible, asking only for the most essential information while offering pre-filled options. The shorter and clear the form is, the more likely it is to be filled.