Website Design

Good web design is what creating a successful website (that meets the needs of business and their brands) is all about. It involves specific essential elements such as user-centered design, visual appeal, accessibility, performance, and responsive design – all lingo for a website design that your end user can actually use and don’t need to look hard to find what they are looking for.

This is often referred to as a ‘user-centered design’ website design that prioritises the user’s experience, making the website intuitive and easy to use. The visual appeal of the website is also important in creating an engaging layout that is visually pleasing and equally easy to navigate through.

Another important fact of good web design is accessibility. This ensures that the website is inclusive and accessible to all users of any generation. Other items such as performance optimization, the speed of which a website loads, is important to avoid users becoming frustrated and helps you to maintain a good search engine ranking. Lastly, responsive design ensures that your website is easily accessible across a variety of different devices.

Good web design gives businesses and brands the ability to create a website that meets the needs of both the business and its users.

Web design and web development are two distinct but interconnected aspects of creating a website. Web design is the process of creating the visual and aesthetic elements of a website (basically the interface that we use to select a page or click a button). Web design covers the layout, color scheme, typography, images, and how your brand will sit in the overall look and feel of the site. Our web designers will create mock-ups of your branded website before handing them over to over developers to build or develop implementation.

Web development, on the other hand, is the twin sister of web design and is the process of building the functional elements of a website (the gremlins you don’t see that make things work on a website). Web development includes writing code in programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create the overall structure, layout, and interactivity of your website.

For more complex websites (like an e-Commerce website or a Learning Management System (LMS)), a developer(s) may also work with databases, scripting languages, content management systems and other technologies to build more complex web applications aka as a website.

While web design focuses on the visual and aesthetic aspects of a website and its twin sister web development, focuses on the functional and technical aspects – Both are important components of creating a successful website. Together with a strong brand, web design and developing works hand in hand in creating a successful, user friendly and mobile responsive website so your prospects can easily find your brand.

Good web design essentially means creating a successful website that meets the needs of your end user. It involves different elements that assist in your brand being recognised online such as user-centered design,the  visual appeal of your brand, accessibility across different platforms, performance, and responsive design depending on the device you are using. Great web design will consider the end user and will prioritise their user experience by making the website intuitive and easy to use. When building a website if your brand or business focuses on these elements, you will create a website that both meets the needs of both the business and its users.

A mobile responsive website is beneficial for both businesses and users because it allows users to view your website effectively across different devices, including desktops, tablets, and mobiles. The greater to responsive design is on your website the wider audience your business can reach. A responsive website also eliminates the need for businesses to maintain multiple versions of their website, saving your brand time and wasting resources. End users expect brands to have  a responsive website design that offers a seamless browsing experience.

If the website content for your brand is optimised for the device that the user is using it makes it easier to read and navigate. This means that users can access the information they need to learn about your brand quickly which increases the amount of time spent on your website, which eventually leads to increased engagement with your business.

In today’s business landscape, a mobile responsive website is essential for all businesses to expose their brand to reach a wider audience making it easier to access the information users need to learn more about your products or services and often leads to increased leads generated in sales.

Whilst both professionals use the term ‘designer’ in their title, their roles in developing a website are very different. Both a website designer and a graphic designer are involved in the process of creating visual elements for your brand to have a website (or for digital media marketing in general) but their skill sets are very different.

A graphic designer will work with you to create concepts to communicate ideas visually that inspire, inform or captivate consumers by using your brand, content and images. They develop the overall layout and design for a variety of marketing applications such as advertisements, social media posts, brochures, magazines, point of sale, exhibition stands and annual reports. A graphic designer’s focus is on the visual and aesthetic aspects of design and work on what we call ‘static designs’ sometimes referred to as ‘offline materials’ that are intended for the  print, social or digital media.

In contrast, a website designer focuses on creating user-friendly and visually appealing websites that engage users or visitors to help them achieve specific goals by finding the information they are looking for or engaging with your brand. They are responsible for a website’s overall look and feel that includes your brand and focus on the page layout, color scheme and image placement on your website. In addition to their web design skills, website designers must also have an understanding of programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to ensure that your website is responsive and compatible with various devices and platforms.

An easier way to understand the difference is this: graphic designers typically work on ‘offline’ marketing materials such as brochures, posters, or logos, while website designers work on ‘online’ marketing tools such as  digital designs specifically for websites.

As a business owner it’s important to understand which profession you need to use when you need creativity and design skills, and which profession you need for web development and programming. The beauty of using an agency like Brand For Brands is that we create the right pairing for your brand based on the business outcomes you need, so you don’t need to worry about who to use.

Our process for website design is to start with the end in mind for your brand. Where does your brand ultimately want to be and how can an online presence help with this goal. From there we work backwards and consider the level of website you need along with the budget and resources needed to produce it. As we say there is no point in building the ‘Taj Mahal’  of websites if you can’t afford to maintain it, even as simply as adding in new and relevant content.

Of course the technical aspect of creating a website design typically involves some initial planning, wireframing where your information will sit on the page, a consideration for the design of the website itself, the build and development, followed by the final step of launching.

For any business owner the planning stage is the most critical and involves understanding who your brand is online and defining the website’s purpose and target audience, from there the rest becomes easy to create a visual representation of your brand website’s layout and structure.

Throughout the design phase we look at elements such as the website’s brand online, the color scheme and the type of images that will be used. The design phase is followed by the build and development stage where the website’s functionality is built (or integrated depending on the type of website you are building for your business) along with any plugins or features – then we thoroughly test the website. Finally, the launch stage involves publishing (or pushing the) website ‘live’ and final considerations like SEO and analytics.

While it can seem overwhelming with several stages needed to create a great website, it’s important to plan well and remember the end in mind. For some business owners it might mean building the website in stages, where one stage builds upon the previous one. What you do want to do is avoid the mistake of using a quick and free DIY website that often does not have as much flexibility or transparency that designing and building your website offers.

Our process for website design is to start with the end in mind for your brand. Where does your brand ultimately want to be and how can an online presence help with this goal. From there we work backwards and consider the level of website you need along with the budget and resources needed to produce it. As we say there is no point in building the ‘Taj Mahal’  of websites if you can’t afford to maintain it, even as simply as adding in new and relevant content.

Of course the technical aspect of creating a website design typically involves some initial planning, wireframing where your information will sit on the page, a consideration for the design of the website itself, the build and development, followed by the final step of launching.

For any business owner the planning stage is the most critical and involves understanding who your brand is online and defining the website’s purpose and target audience, from there the rest becomes easy to create a visual representation of your brand website’s layout and structure.

Throughout the design phase we look at elements such as the website’s brand online, the color scheme and the type of images that will be used. The design phase is followed by the build and development stage where the website’s functionality is built (or integrated depending on the type of website you are building for your business) along with any plugins or features – then we thoroughly test the website. Finally, the launch stage involves publishing (or pushing the) website ‘live’ and final considerations like SEO and analytics.

While it can seem overwhelming with several stages needed to create a great website, it’s important to plan well and remember the end in mind. For some business owners it might mean building the website in stages, where one stage builds upon the previous one. What you do want to do is avoid the mistake of using a quick and free DIY website that often does not have as much flexibility or transparency that designing and building your website offers.

Yes we do, our portfolio of website design (along with brands and other marketing material) is quite large and varied, click here to view our portfolio https://brandforbrands.com/portfolio/

As a business owner there are few key factors to look for when reviewing any web designer’s portfolio or branding agency overall. Firstly, look for evidence in the portfolio of (what we call) high-quality and visually appealing designs that align with your brand identity.

The portfolio in general should showcase the designer’s ability to create custom designs that meet the needs of their clients. What’s important to remember is to look for a ‘style’ or ‘theme’ that you see offcuring, if you do this is not a positive sign. It means that the designer or professional you are looking at only has one style that may not suit or be adaptable to your brand. Ideally the portfolio should be varied and contain designs or brands that are impactful across a diverse range of industries, showing business at different stages and life cycles.

Secondly, as a business owner consider the functionality of the websites in the designer’s portfolio by looking for a live or working link to the website itself. Are their websites user-friendly, easy to navigate, and optimised for different devices and screen sizes? Even go to the extent of viewing that example on your mobile device to see how it looks and functions.

In general the portfolio should demonstrate the designer’s ability to create websites that are visually appealing, functional and user-friendly. Finally, look for evidence of the designer’s range of clientele and their technical expertise across different types of websites. If you are confident enough you can look at custom coding, integration of third-party applications or plugins – but this is only a worthwhile exercise if you have first hand knowledge of different programming languages.

If not, then stick with the basics of what to look for even if it means looking at websites that have the same or similar functions or usability as the website you want to create for your brand.