At this initial stage, WEB 360° must determine the final goal of the website design, usually in close collaboration with the client or other stakeholders. Questions to explore and answer at this stage of the website design and development process include:

• Who is the site for?
• What do they expect to find or do there?
• Is the primary goal of this site to inform, sell (e-commerce, showcase?) or entertain?
• Does the website need to clearly convey a brand’s core message, or is it part of a broader brand strategy with its own unique focus?
• What competitor sites, if any, are there and how should this site be inspired by/different from those competitors?

This will help put the plan on track.

One of the most common and difficult problems plaguing web design projects is initial changes to the project. The client starts with a goal in mind, but it gradually expands, evolves, or changes completely during the design process — and the next thing you know, you’re not just designing and building a website, but a web application, emails, and push notifications. This is not necessarily a problem for designers, as it can often lead to more work. But if the raised expectations aren’t matched by an increase in budget or schedule, the project can quickly become completely unrealistic.

A sitemap provides the foundation for any well-designed website. It helps give web designers a clear idea of ​​the website’s information architecture and explains the relationships between various pages and content elements.

Building a website without a sitemap is like building a house without a plan. And that rarely turns out to be a good thing.

The next step is to find some design inspiration and create a mockup. Mockups provide a framework to store the visual design and content elements of the website and can help identify potential challenges and gaps with the sitemap.

Although a mockup does not contain final design elements, it acts as a guide to how the website will ultimately look. It can also act as inspiration for formatting various elements.

Purpose 1.

Content Drives Engagement and Action First, content engages readers and prompts them to take the necessary actions to fulfill a website’s goals. This is influenced by both the content itself (the writing) and the way it is presented (the typography and structural elements). Dull, lifeless and exaggerated prose rarely holds visitors’ attention for long. Short, snappy and interesting content grabs them and makes them click to other pages. Even if your pages need a lot of content—and often, they do—properly “chunking” that content by breaking it up into short paragraphs complemented by graphics can help it maintain a light, attractive feel.

Purpose 2.

SEO Content also boosts a website’s visibility to search engines. The practice of creating and optimizing content to rank well in search is known as search engine optimization or SEO. Getting the keywords and key phrases right is essential to the success of any website. With a specific tool it shows the search volume for potential keywords and target phrases so you can see what real people are searching for on the web. As search engines get smarter, so must your content strategies. Google Trends is also handy for determining what terms people are actually using when searching. My design process focuses on designing websites around SEO.

Finally, it’s time to create the visual style for the website. This part of the design process is often shaped by existing branding elements, color choices and logos as defined by the client. But it’s also the stage in the web design process where a good web designer can really shine.

Images are taking on a more important role in web design now than ever before. Not only do high-quality images give a website a professional look and feel, but they also convey a message, are mobile-friendly, and help build trust.

Visual content is known to increase clicks, engagement and revenue. But more than that, people want to see images on a website. Not only do images make a page feel less cumbersome and easier to digest, but they also enhance the message in the text and can even convey important messages without people even having to read.

Visual design is a way to communicate and appeal to website users. Get it right and it can determine the success of the site. Wrong, and you’re just another web address.

Once the website has all its graphics and content, we are ready to test. We thoroughly test each page to make sure all links work and the site loads correctly on all devices and browsers.

Now it’s time for everyone’s favorite part of the website design process: When everything has been thoroughly tested and we’re happy with the site, it’s time to publish.