Washington State University

RSO Web Support

Visual Design

Although it is nice to develop a visually pleasing website, visual aesthetics and media should never hinder the visitor's ability to find and understand the information.  Keeping your site design simple can reduce download times and distractions for the visitor. 

Color

  • Use vibrant colors sparingly.  Too many bright and bold colors can distract visitors and can also be straining on the eyes after long periods of viewing time.
  • Choose colors that represent your group or organization. 
  • Be consistent with colors of like elements on the page such as headers. 
  • Use contrast with differing elements such as secondary links versus main navigation
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Colors Example Colors Example

Images

  • Edit your images in your preferred image editing software to the correct dimensions before you load it to the Content Management System (CMS). 
  • Use smaller image sizes to reduce loading time. 
  • Use quality images on your website. 
  • Use images sparingly and only when appropriate to reduce the loading time of your website and to avoid distracting visitors from more important information. 
  • Images should have dimensions that fit within the content area. Image Dimensions
  • Images should not interfere with text legibility or understanding. 
  • Images should be related and meaningful to the content on the page.
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Images Example Images Example
Compton Union Building (CUB), PO Box 627204, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-7204 | (509) 335-9444 | rsoweb@wsu.edu