The menu on your webpage is essentially a map. The visitor to a site should know where they are and where they are going. The menu structure on your site guides your visitors to what they want to find and, importantly, to what you want them to find. Typically the menu exists either along the top of the page or down the left hand side of the page.
Your menu should be:
Simple – easy to move from page to page and section to section
Clear – word choice should emphasize clarity or good use of intrigue “Check this out!”
Consistent – the same from page to page
When designing a good navigation system, consider first your visitors’ needs. For what is the visitor likely to be looking? Make the items highly visible and communicate the current location on the site. This last item is typically accomplished by making the current page appearing on the menu a different color from other menu offerings and/or by naming the page using a title from the menu itself.
Keep your links on the site current at all times! Getting broken links and “404 Page Not Found!” errors can cause a visitor to give up.
Use Clean, Concise Copy
In general, follow the rule that “Less is More”. You want to prevent information overload in your visitors and most will be more prone to scanning information rather than in-depth reading. Naturally, context may determine there will be long articles and perhaps many words on your site. However, the more copy you have on a page, the more there is need for good white space and other elements to balance out the copy.
You want to be certain, of course, your grammar and spelling are correct in all instances.
Typically you want to use a limited number of fonts on any page.
Align your text with the other elements on the page to achieve balance.
SEO in your copy is important, but don’t Key Word spam. Keep your language natural.
There is a lot of text on the above page, but it is balanced out with social media icons, white space and a photograph. Below is a good example with far less text, allowing the reader to easily scan the page:
Color Choice
When choosing a color palette, you want to use colors that are complementary and that work together not only with other colors on the screen, but also with your other sales collateral and logo. Color is an important part of the entire branding exercise, so you want to have a very precise color choice from which to choose. Obtain and use the “hex” code numbers for your color choices to keep everything consistent. For example #3b599b will be the shade of blue used by Facebook.
There is an entire psychology of color too extensive to cover here. Suffice it to say color palettes for travel tend toward greens, blues, purples and reds, colors psychologically suggesting stability, trustworthiness and luxury. Here, however, we will address more the concepts of complementary and contrasting colors. Contrasting colors make text easier to read such as black on white. However, black on dark blue can be very difficult to read as can white on sky blue. Always ensure contrast is sufficient to ensure readability.
Typically, you will want to avoid color combinations creating “vibrations” because of their highly saturated nature. For example, bright reds on blues will appear to vibrate for many viewers. Many colors to not interact well with others, and not everyone will see any given color like everyone else.
Be consistent throughout your site in your palette. Remember you are brand building and color is often a subliminal factor in brand identity.
Good color choices complement the brand and corporate identity of the travel agency:
