What is Web Design?
A guide to the best website design.
With Core Design, Web design is the process of planning, conceptualizing and arranging content of text and images online.
Nowadays in comparison to when we started web design back in 2001 web design is more than the style, its the UX Design (usability), functionality and how the website is technically set up to gives its overall performance.
For some business a web design is the complete front of the business from giving information to data capture and actually making sales as with an ecommerce web design.
Web design nowadays includes web apps and mobile apps and the way these need to present themselves and function.
Web design can have a huge impact on your performance in search engines like Google.
Our web design includes the design/styling and Branding, the functions and UX design and the work behind it so it ranks well in search engines.
Web design tool options.
There are many ways to create a web design, we mainly use the WordPress platform because we are able to manipulate it for custom designing a website, it gives its own custom management system and has a massive choice of pre made plug ins that allow functions to be added to a web design.
Alternatively if you want to do it yourself there are website design tools from Wix, Squarespace and others allowing pre made templates to be used to build your own website design.
Be sure to do your research, try free trials and determine which platform best fits your website needs because all of these will have various payment options and some that will tie you into a contract.
If you are wanting your website design to gain you business we would always advise to use a web design agency like ourselves at Core Design Communications Ltd who can offer you our 20 years of experience of website design for a whole host of companies.
What are the elements of web design?
Here is a short list of the elements that are considered while designing a website.
A websites design and styling and text go together equally. It is important to have a content writer and web designer to work together so to create a cohesive design with balanced elements. Focus on creating chunks of text (using text blocks) in order to compliment your graphics and images.
Fonts.
Choose a font that compliments your brand design and overall design. Fonts have a massive impact on an overall web design, they should work with your colour scheme, graphics, images, icons and go towards strengthening the overall tone and messaging of the website. Because the relationship between Google and a website is so important we use Google Web Fonts as the go to place in choosing a font.
Colour Scheme.
Colours are also one of the most important elements to consider when designing a website. It is important to focus on colours that work with your overall design and tone of your website.
Main colours may come from your current branding but we at Core Design often like to expand the branding on a website design by adding a new secondary colour but always bearing in mind the overall message of the web design.
When learning about graphic design and advertising techniques there is also a belief about the role that psychology of colour plays.
Reds often are thought of strength and power, they are often used to highlight something and is said to be a colour that signposts someone to do something.
Blues are thought of as calm, stable, safe and confident. The colour blue is often used in company's branding.
Orange reflects a bright image, fresh and exciting.
Purple reflects luxury and creativity.
Yellow reflects cheery, happy and joy.
Pink reflects caring and friendship.
Green reflects harmony, growth and balance, it is used in branding for eco type companies.
Black reflects wealth, style and elegance.
Page Layout.
Deciding on how to arrange your content on websites pages will have a large impact on both the usability and functionality of your site.
There are no specific rules for design purposes but there are some rules if you are designing a Responsive website which is a website that resizes itself to display on mobile devices.
Technically also if considering search engine optimisation the way content is laid out is an important factor.
We find snippets of content is often a good way to display your content and the use of bullet points can give technical information in a more simple way.
Spacing.
Spacing is a key element to creating a visually pleasing and an easy to navigate website.
Spacing is an element that affects all the websites pages, it helps balance out the content made up of text, images and photos.
The use of whitespace is used by many web designers because it helps to present the information in a more readable form.
Do not fall into the trap of adding in lots and lots of content in a websites area without giving thought to its spacing.
Images, infographics & Icons.
Create designs have to and do communicate a lot of information in just a few seconds. This is often made possible with the use of stunning images, infographics and icons.
With our web design we choose images and icons that support and strengthen the messages of the website.
There are stock image libraries that such images can be found, we also design our own infographics using adobe design software including photoshop that be found from Adobe.
We use stock images from professional paid image libraries like Shutterstock.
If your web design is a do it yourself type there are free image libraries like Pexels.
Videos.
Videos in a web design is another design feature. The use of a video is often to explain something in a more simpler way so the user can understand it instead of relying on text to explain something.
Videos will catch the attention of the user, sometimes viewed first. So you need to make sure it is not placed somewhere that may detract from seeing some other important piece of information.
It often makes sense to upload a video first to a video platform like You Tube. This is because the video then is hosted on an external web server, otherwise if you host the video on your web server this more than likely slow your website down.
Also having a youtube channel and having videos on that titled and described correct gives the chance of some visitor traffic from that and can also go to helping your search engine optimisation.
Speed.
No one likes using a slow website, having to wait more than a few seconds for a page to load can quickly deter a visitor from remaining on or returning to your site.
Regardless of how good the website is or if it is selling a product, a visitor will go and find an alternative website.
Also if your website takes too long to load it will not perform well in searches because website speed forms part of Googles search algorithm.
We use compression software with our website designs to compress all the content to a smaller disc space to allow for quicker loading times.
If using a web builder it would be best to understand if they give an optimizer like this with your web design package.
Animations.
Animations on a website are often used to get the users attention about some specific information. It is a technique we employ quite a lot, from clever animations to simple animated arrows to signpost to get someone to do something.
Animations are used to make the user part of the interaction and research has shown how highly affective animation can be.
A simple form of animation is an animated Gif where a set of images are put together to create a simple animation.
Site structure.
A web design structure plays an important role in both user experience (UX) and search engine optimisation (SEO). Users of a good web design should be able to easily navigate through your website without coming across any structural issues. If users of a website are getting lost while attempting to use the website means search engine crawler bots will probably as well. This is bad news because a crawler (or bot) is an automated program that searches through your website and can determine its functionality.
So poor navigation not only means the user may not find the information they are looking for easily it will also affect your search engine optimisation results.
Cross-browser & cross-device compatibility.
A great web design should work on all devices and browsers. When we create a web design we will check the compatibility for you.
If you are using a do it yourself web design platform like Wix or Squarespace, just double check with them if they do the checking for you as part of their web design package.
Responsive Websites.
When we design our websites we make sure the website design is 'responsive'. Responsive websites are clever in that they use flexible grid layouts that are based on the percentage each element takes up in its container. This way the content moves itself to display on smaller screens whatever the size like on mobile devices.
When we design our websites we always take into account the finished design working on a desktop as well as a mobile device.
If you are using a do it yourself web design platform like Wix or Squarespace, the templates that you use will already be responsive or adaptive.
Call us today on 024 7660 1351 if you need any advice about having a new website design.
Many people have asked what is web page design and what is web design?
Web design itself is the process of designing a web page’s look and style. The design part of web page design takes into account choosing the right colour scheme, how the page lays out on the screen, the fonts used, images to be used and how it looks when its made Responsive ie. mobile optimised.
Every web page that forms the website of course will have different content, but all the pages will use a similar graphic design otherwise the website will look very odd.
Websites are often made up of page templates, these contain all the elements of the web design like the website's CSS style, buttons, backgrounds, borders and various graphic elements like images, bullets and header banners.
When a website template is used all the pages will have the same appearance, using the same styles, background and other graphical elements.
But most of the pages in a website will have their own design elements because every web page has to allow for different content, using one template design style will not work for all pages.
For example one type of web page that will always differ is the contact page. Designing a Contact page will often require a custom design layout and design elements to enable the contact form on it to show the forms fields to complete, option buttons to choose along with a send button.
All these styles, layouts, images, etc. are often not applicable for the other website pages. So, the contact page uses the basic website template for the menus, backgrounds, header images, etc. but also has its own web page design, including the contact form’s design itself and all the other elements specific for that page.
What are all the elements to think about for a web page design?
Content.
When it comes to web page design, the most important thing is to consider is the pages objectives.
The pages objectives will have been formed when the Content strategy was discussed which includes planning, creating and managing the content on your website.
Each page that is individual will have its own goal, like getting someone to enquire or buy an item etc. Once you understand the goal of the page you can then can work on the design or
write the content.
Here are a few practical tips when considering your content strategy:
Do not give too much information.
Too much information on a web page can easily overwhelm visitors. There are some simple ways to reduce information overload. One common technique is breaking content into smaller chunks to help users understand and process it better. However good content is important especially for Google algorithm for organic search engine optimising a website.
Avoid jargon words.
Each unknown term or phrase that appears on the web page will make it that much harder for the visitor to understand the information, if you need to use one, a way around this is to bracket with an explanation just like you would with any printed literature.
Try to avoid long sentences.
Write in small, quickly scannable segments throughout the page ideally.
Web page structure.
A properly structured web page will help visitors find the information they want. A properly structured web design will allow users to navigate easily around all the web pages.
One way to create a well structured web page is to use a layout grid to ensure everything is consistent. A layout grid divides a page into major sections in terms of size and position. It helps display the important way in a natural way.
Think about visual hierarchy.
People are more likely to quickly scan a web page than to read everything there. For this reason it is a good idea to optimise your web page design for fast scanning reading.
A good visual hierarchy refers to the arrangement of the different elements on a web page in a way that indicates their importance (that is, where their eyes should focus first, second, etc.). A good visual hierarchy therefore makes it easier for people to quickly scan over the content.
Good images, icons and infographics.
Make sure your website displays interesting and relevant images that help to highlight the messages and information that web page is projecting.
Easy to use form.
If a form is required to be completed make sure it is easily accessible on the website and make it clear what fields of information are required.
Animation.
Animation is another important tool for effective interaction. More and more designers are incorporating animation as a functional element to enhance the user experience. However, animation in design can enhance the user experience only if it’s incorporated at the right time and place. Good UI animation has a purpose; it is meaningful and functional.
Responsive web design.
It is essential to optimise your website for various screens and resolutions. So make sure the web page and the web design is responsive which means it resizes the content to view on whatever size screen it is being viewed on.
Accessibility.
Accessibility is another essential website design guideline. Today’s products must be accessible to everyone, regardless of a person’s abilities. Designing for users with impairments should be an integral part of the web page design.
We would always advise to get a custom web design so all these elements can be considered to make your website perform like it should. There are many ways and tools for designing for web page design and web design, if you are looking at a 'do it yourself' template using platform, we would advise to investigate which of the above things you are able to do with it before proceeding.
Call us today on 024 7660 1351 and have a chat about what we can do for your internet marketing.
How to get traffic to your website - it’s called SEO
Once we have designed a web design for you we need to generate business and traffic to it. We at Core Web Design Coventry a leading digital marketing agency we can fulfil all the digital marketing principles that is required to generate visitors to your website.
Having an online marketing plan is just as important in most cases as the website. As a long term investment that will always be an asset to the business we suggest organic SEO packages.
What is Organic SEO?
Organic SEO work is the work that makes your website more prominent in search engines for a range of related and targeted keywords.
Using a range of different industry processes we will work towards ranking your website higher than your competitors for your most competitive keywords.
Organic SEO does take time, for local campaigns we advise it takes around 3 months for your website to show true ranking on Google.
Local SEO.
Being a leading Coventry digital marketing agency we have a whole host of clients in Coventry that have required their web design to be found locally to other Coventry people and businesses.
To do this for our clients this is known as local SEO work.
Being experienced in this type of digital marketing to start your business should have a verified Google My Business account. Having this account gives your web design two local opportunities to be found on Google, one in Google maps listing and the other in organic searches.
Being a google expert we at core design can set an account up for you optimising it with the keywords that we may have set when doing our onsite website optimisation work. Having an expert like us do this for you will guarantee it is set up correctly giving Google all the information it needs to list your business. With Google being the main search engine this is a must for any business for its local SEO work.
Web Design and Google Webmaster Tools.
A fundamental part of any SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is to set up a reporting tool on how the mechanics of the website is working. Website pages links can sometimes break within the website,or some error is thrown up, setting up a Google webmaster tool allows for such reported errors to be communicated automatically.
What is Pay Per Click?
Pay Per Click, often abbreviated as PPC, is an alternative way of your website being found and listed on Google. This process has the advantage over organic SEO in that it will start generating you SEO traffic straight away. Pay Per Click is bidding an amount of money to show your advert in the searches against certain keywords and phrases. When the advert is clicked upon it will cost the bid price at that time for the click referral.
Our digital marketing service includes setting up campaigns for our clients after deciding on a monthly budget based on the agreed keywords to be found under on the search engine.
If you have an Ecommerce web design and you want to market your products on Google we can also explain and set up Google shopping ads as part of your pay per click campaign.
External link building.
Link building is the process of getting other websites to link back to your website. The point and advantage of building links is it drives referral traffic from them and increase their site's authority.
This is important because Google's algorithm are always changing, but backlinks remain an important factor in how every search engine determines which sites rank for which keywords.
Building links is a major part of search engine optimisation (SEO) because links are a signal to Google that your site is a quality resource worthy of note. Therefore websites with more backlinks tend to earn a higher ranking, a higher ranking means your website will be higher up in searches for its service or product.
Call us today on 024 7660 1351 to discuss we can generate traffic to your website.
