DESIGNING WEBSITES FOR KIDS

One can easily design a good-looking website for adults but to design, an interesting website for teenagers and kids turns out to be an entirely different thing. Most of the websites are developed for adults with a huge amount of written content that lacks creativity and fun.

The most important thing that one should keep in his/her mind while developing a website that will be visited by kids, is that it should be fun as they have little patience. If your site is slow, has glitches, busy design and some annoying issues then it’s pretty sure that kids won’t spend much time on your site.

Adults and children, both of the categories lookout for some quality content. Adults might find reviews on an e-commerce website helpful whereas kids find interactive and educational content like videos and games helpful. Adults prefer darker colours in the background while children prefer bright and bold colours.

Earlier, the sites for the kids had a busy design, but things have changed now and it has changed for the better. Let’s have a look at the latest trends being followed today!

DESIGNING ACCORDING TO THE AGE GROUP

You should not only create a website for kids, you should even ensure that it engages the kids on the site. It is extremely important to design a website according to the taste of the age group that is most important to you.

Let’s take an example: The age group you are addressing is 9–12 years and your website has bright colours, cartoon characters, small and simple text do you think the individual will stay there for long? NO! As he/she might consider it “childish” and will quickly move on to something else. On the contrary, if the age group is 3–5 years the website with small and simple text, cartoon characters and bright colours will work for them. Use simple and interactive content for them.

While one is addressing the age group 6–8 years, the website can have bright colours but the images used should be a little more layered and detailed. Use simple words and brief sentences for instructions. The interactive content should be more in variety and in number for this age group.

For the age group 9–12 years, the website can have bright and muted colours. The usage of words can be simple but you can add a lot more text for them. They prefer more human-like cartoon characters and you can even use complex interactive content for this group.

For the age group 13–16 years, the website can be more traditional in its layout than being in bright colours. The words used can be more challenging and complex. You can add as much text as you want but it should be in a readable manner and you can replace cartoon characters with images for this group.

BUILD A JOYFUL, WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT

All the kids love to have fun irrespective of their age group. So, by making your website fun and entertaining kids will stay longer and will visit your page again.

You can do that by adding happy and welcoming content that can be done using cute and funny cartoon characters and emoticons. You can even add funny animations or catchy rhymes that will entertain your kid along with learning.

The design of your website plays an important role too, as it can send positive or negative messages to the recipient. So, one should use bright and high contrast colours along with the font which should be fun and easy to read. It will be a plus point if you add a font that has a “handwritten” impact.

As mentioned earlier, that you should make a website according to the taste of the age group you are addressing like for the age group of 13–16 year olds, you can add a 2–5 minutes of an educational video in between; for 9–12 year olds, you can add a small game in between.

LARGE DESIGN ELEMENTS ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS

Large-sized elements have proven to have impacted web traffic largely in the past few years. The large size elements can be a huge text, a big call of action or a huge welcome screen etc. It has been noticed that many sites have adopted this pattern and it has acted beneficially to them. The large-sized elements are useful when the target audiences are kids.

The children prefer simple and recognizable words and objects, which is reflected best by large-sized designs. By using a simple call to action or large buttons makes your website engaging for kids.

Another interesting and innovative design strategy to engage kids on your website is by including a big animated character that could “speak” and “move” according to the command of the user (as per the links being opened or the action being taken).

These are some of the tricks and tips that many experts use while developing a website for kids, so do try to work on some of these ideas on your website!