5 Elements of a Great Web Banner

Posted on March 17, 2023 | Updated on June 13, 2023

Web banners are commonplace across the internet, from educational websites to entertaining blogs. They often offer internal or external advertisements and give your site a unique look. 

Behind every great web banner is a designer who put careful thought into each of its elements. Here are five elements that will make your banner stand out. 

1. Size 

When you create your website banner, you must ensure it is the right size for your landing page. 

There are three main sizes to consider when designing your website.

  • Leaderboard – 728×90 pixels. 
  • Rectangle – 336×280 pixels.
  • Mobile Banner – 320×100 pixels.

The size of your depends on what your website needs and how much attention you want to draw to it. Do you want your banner to capture a user’s attention right away or do you want them to see something else first?

Those questions are important for knowing how to begin creating your banner. 

2. Purpose

The next thing to consider is what the purpose of your banner is? Is it an advertisement, entertainment or an announcement? This can determine your banner’s design, including the color and font. 

You shouldn’t have a banner just to have one. Every item on your website should have a purpose. Banners can be a great way to grab a user’s attention, so ensure that you make them matter. 

3. Color

Another important element of your website banner is your chosen color. Your banner should go along with the rest of your website color palette but also fit its purpose. 

Different colors evoke different emotional responses. 

Blue is a safe color that draw attention to your banner while giving your website a clean appearance. It also evokes a positive but calm emotional response. 

Reds and yellows can invoke happiness and excitement, green can help users focus, and pink shows creativity. If you want a calm and relaxing banner, try gray. 

4. Images

You must also consider what images you want to place on your banner. Images are a great way to improve your search engine optimization, but you want to choose your images carefully. 

An improperly-sized image can appear messy, causing your audience to ignore it. 

You don’t want your image to take up more than 250px by 250px for most banners, since the size keeps it clean but doesn’t overwhelm the space. 

5. Readability

There’s no point in having a banner that’s hard to read. Unique styles are fun, but clarity is essential to have your audience click on it. 

Fonts like Arial, Verdana and Times New Roman are easy for most people to read online and are good options for your banner. Other easy-to-read fonts include Helvetica, Tahoma and Calibri. 

Keep your font a color that stands out against images and your background color and consider changing those items if you can’t .

Too many sentences together can be hard to decipher, especially on a banner. If your content isn’t scannable than your banner will get less attention. If you don’t have enough space to divide your content into one or two sentences chunks, it’s probably best not to put the information on your web banner. 

Creating a Great Web Banner 

A web banner can be as simple or complex as you want, but carefully considering these elements will encourage your audience to see what’s behind it. 

By making an attractive, easy-to-understand banner, you can grow your audience.

About The Author

Eleanor Hecks is the Editor-in-Chief of Designerly Magazine, an online publication dedicated to providing in-depth content from the design and marketing industries. When she's not designing or writing code, you can find her re-reading the Harry Potter series, burning calories at a local Zumba class, or hanging out with her dogs, Bear and Lucy.

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