After reaching a professionally designed website, users are immediately drawn to learn more about the product and services. A clean, well thought out website design can help put you on the right foot with a broad set of users, whether you are looking to generate new customers, build momentum behind an idea or provide a comprehensive source of information.
Before diving into the new layout of your website, always consider user experience as your foremost consideration. Developing sites that appeal to user’s aesthetic and informational tastes can help maximize the chances of success for your brand. A properly structured website can help extend your brand onto the web, improving its image with consumers and helping you to generate effective new prospects, leads and sales from your website.
Incorporating Trends in Web Design
While many designers today opt for a “Web 2.0” feel which includes rounded corners, big icons, bold colors and simplistic names, you can also look at various other trends in the field which fit your brand better. The key to proper web design is to find a look and feel that matches, extends and enhances your brand image in a new direction.
To begin with, always start to design your website with a series of “story board” ideas that focus on user experience, ranging from aesthetic elements to on site content. Whether you are working with a professional designer or working to learn the craft on your own, it’s important to start off line with a series of ideas. Once you have encapsulated the look you want in a short paragraph – for example “our design goal is to build a clean, modern, fresh website that showcases our local business offerings” – you can then proceed to the actual design stage.
The most common way to build a modern website today is to start with a layered Photoshop image – this will allow you to revise, update and work on the creative process over time. Since Photoshop images have embedded layers, you can add details, update coloring and adjust navigational elements in real time with ease. A good investment is to purchase a copy of Adobe Photoshop, or you can use an open source program such as Gimp for users just starting out.
When you begin designing you site, it’s important to realize you’ll want to work to “splice” it into functional HTML code. This is another important step to master since you’ll need to learn exactly how to incorporate the right technologies such as Flash, Javascript and Ajax in order to get a clean, user friendly site. While you could use a visual website editor such as Dreamweaver, the code in these programs is not often stable and splicing the design manually is the most effective way to build up a high quality website.
For business owners who want to learn the process but face time constraints, work closely with your designer, requesting source files so you can learn from the finished product. A professionally designed website requires precision in terms of design, coding and implementation but the final product makes it fully worth the while.
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