“Responsive Web Design always plays an important role whenever going to promote your website.”
– Josh Wilson.
When it comes to designing a website, this stands very true. If your web page is not user-friendly or responsive, you might have a few problems in attracting the target audience and generating traffic. The responsiveness of design is actually one of the first things that designers plan and business owners look for.
According to a study by Stanford, around 75% of people form judgments about a company or organization by going through its websites. Designing a web page is a fairly long process that is divided into different parts or stages. If you are not aware of the areas to focus on, you could face some challenges in getting the desired results.
Before you even start, you have to make sure that your computer is ready and capable of handling the heavy lifting that website designing requires. Then you have to make sure that you have all the required software such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for effective layout designing work.
Now comes the real designing part. In order to make sure that a website is easy to navigate, responsive and connects the user and business owner easily, you have to plan your design very carefully. By doing so, you will be able to simplify the process and highlight any complications that you may experience along the way beforehand. The designing of a website is going to require a lot of effort and you must pay attention to these 4 stages.
1. Setting and Assessing Requirements
Basically, this is the first stage of web design where you identify and set goals, and gather as much information as possible regarding them. This part of the process consists of ideation, brainstorming and assessing how the design will take form. You will have to collaborate closely with the clients on each project and find out their goals for the website. Ask the core questions such as what the purpose of the website is. Is it an e-commerce platform or to be used as a source of information? If you are involved with an e-commerce project, then you can include services like logo design, branding and publicity as well.
While business owners may choose a design from an e-commerce logo designer, you will have to focus on incorporating the brand’s message and identity within the web page. Once you have figured out where to start, you should also clarify who the target audience will be and what type of competitor websites are there to avoid similarities. All of this will help you chart out a path to a smooth design process.
2. Defining and Visualizing the Scope
When you visualize and define the scope in the beginning, you can easily avoid technical difficulties later on. Look at it this way. The client’s expectations and goals can change and at times they may not be realistic or accommodated in the budget. However, if you make the scope clear during the early stages of design and create a timeline for delivery, this problem can be solved. It is also a good idea to send visualize the concept according to the brief and sketch a few rough designs. This way you can get feedback from the client, be clear in your definition of the scope and show your creativity too.
You can make things simpler with the help of a Gantt chart. As you can see below, it is quite useful for keeping a track of deadlines, milestones in the design of the website and information.
Image source: Pinterest
3. Creating wireframes and Site Structure
The sitemap or structure is basically an idea of all the pages that are going to be included in the website. By charting it out, you can make sure that everything important has been covered and figure out how each page will be linked to others as well. This will help you come up with a responsive and user-friendly design that engages the audience. In the example below, you can see a simple sitemap with the home page linking to contact details and a picture gallery. You must pay attention to this to overcome any problems in the early stages and deliver the website in a short span of time.
As for the wireframe, it is a mockup of the content that will appear on the pages so think of it as a visual framework of the website. Once you create a wireframe, it becomes a draft for the final version of the website. So you can see where the navigation bars are, each section with the content and any additional fields or boxes.
4. Testing and Launch
In the final stages, you will have to be very careful about the testing of the website before it is launched. You can share it with your design team, client and a few people from the target audience for feedback. This is going to help you determine and solve problems such as glitches, compatibility with different browsers and broken links. Once you are certain that the website is ready to go live, you can set it for launch. However, there might be a few upgrades that you may have to make after that as well. In order to make sure that everything is just as you want, you have to direct all your attention towards this stage of web design.
To Sum Up
The web design process may be a little confusing at first but when you begin the work and focus on the right elements, and tie it in with the brand strategy, you can master it. Once you begin paying attention to the stages of development early on, you will find yourself overcoming any challenges and delivering the final website as per the requirements.
Take action
If you’re looking to do more online, to build your brand in a meaningful way, then get in touch with us and together we can help your clients to both live and love your brand. Give us a call or drop us a line and we will be delighted to demonstrate how you can improve your website traffic.
Article by Kris David
A student by day and a wordsmith by night, Kris David works as a freelance blogger. He is currently pursuing a degree in Communications and relying on his freelance gigs to jumpstart his career in journalism.