At the crux of every website design is one defining principle that all other design principles work towards: communication. Website designs need to be able to communicate their message and purpose with clarity and creativity. To do this, there are a variety of different tools that web designers and developers can utilize to make a site easy and fun to use. One particular element that you can use to spice up your site is icons, which can be a major tool that helps the viewer orient themselves on your site. Here are several reasons that icons are especially effective tools for website design…
Icons guide the viewer’s eye
If a website feels cluttered and disorganized, then users are more likely to leave without finding something that they want. Obviously, this is contrary to the overall goals of your website. What icons do is create a pattern that leads the viewer’s eyes to whatever they want to find. In this way, navigation is greatly improved. While making things easier for the viewer, you can also lead them to the parts of the page that you feel will be most important for their interests and purposes on your site.
Users find what they want, faster
Using icons that correlate with elements of the content on a website help viewers find what they are looking for faster. If someone is looking for a particular category of product, their brains are going to register an icon considerably faster than having to read all of the text to find what they are looking for. In the same vein, if somebody is looking for a particular group of content around a particular topic to read, having icons helps them immediately spot something that pertains to their interest. This example of a user interface greatly improves the user experience of a website.
