Website Design

So you've planned your website, you know what you need it to do and what it needs to say to your audience - now you need it designed. It's all well and good creating an good structure for your website and getting it found on search engines, once your visitor lands on your website you need to make sure you look as good as you can.

Let's face it, you wouldn't turn up to make an impression on a client without making an effort on your appearance, well I wouldn't let your website be presented to the world without making sure it looks as good as it works.

Design Brief

You can have as much or as little involvement in your design as you like. I'll fully discuss the design in order to understand what you like (and don't like) and take a brief. I'll also discuss options which will enhance your website (this could be animations, galleries, and other user interaction). I'll let you know if I feel something won't work in the sites design however it is your site and you, ultimately, have to be happy with the result.

Or I can take what I understand about your site, what you do, how you want to be perceived, and (for example) some colour preferences and, given a free reign, your site will be designed for you without any real input.

Design Planning

Designing a website is not quite as easy as some people think, and although anything can be created there are a few things that need to take into consideration when designing the site, for example:

  • Making sure the layout of the design will fit well in a browser window.
  • The aspect ratio of the website - how much of the site will be displayed / visible in the initial browser window.
  • Animations and how they will be integrated into the design
  • Background images and how they will enhance the site (ie not be too overpowering)
  • Designing for landscape and portrait views (eg desktop displays and phone displays), this has become more and more relevant now that we are creating responsive designs.

Design Creation

A couple of design options will usually be produced for you and allow you to choose which is best or (and this happens most of the time) take bits from each option to create a final design. Your design will be presented to you for discussion and can be modified until you are completely happy with the overall look and feel of the website.

Designing for WordPress

Since WordPress has become more and more popular designing for WordPress is now available.

Yes there are thousands of "themes" out there for WordPress and one of these may well suit your requirements but we understand that this is not necessarily going to be individual to you. (In fact it will probably be the same as several thousand other people who have used that theme!)

So ... a theme can be chosen and adapted for you to make sure that it is individual to you, suits your needs and incorporates your preferred colours, images/photos etc.

Or ... you can have your own design, however this is either going to follow the constraints of a WordPress template (I'll explain this if you want) or become more cost effective for you to have your own bespoke designed site! Just to let you know it can be done if you want.

Yes there's quite a lot to think about when planning the design of your website, but don't worry, this is for us to worry about and advise you on (if you want to know).

With many years experience in web project planning for clients in Cambridge you're in safe hands when it comes to ensuring that your website doesn't just get found, load fast and perform well, it will look fantastic too.