Web design is one of the most important parts of building a new website. Web design can be the difference between success and failure. Delivering a well-structured, purpose driven design is not an accident; it takes strategic planning and an experienced, creative design team.
Sharkey Media has a skilled web design team that builds creative, practical and business driven designs.
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THE WEB DESIGN PROCESS
Sharkey Media follow a strict design process to ensure each and every website is delivered to meet client and business expectations. Our web design is creative and unique. We are perfectionists and work with our clients to design the best possible website.
The process begins with a wireframe to determine the layout and usability of the website. Using the wireframe we can conceptualise the design even before a web designer commences work. We use the wireframe to create a strategic layout for the website to ensure it is both usable and search engine optimised. Once the wireframe is complete, we work with our client to collect inspirational web designs that can be used by our designers to visualise the kind of style you are trying to achieve.
This process delivers creative and business driven designs to ensure your website is easy to use, practical and strategically laid out.
WEB DESIGN TIPS
When designing a new website or re-designing an older website it is a good idea to avoid common web design mistakes. Mistakes can vary from poor structure to an overuse of images.
Here are a few simple tips to avoid common web design mistakes:
- Design your website for your target audience
A modern, image-heavy design is great for attracting younger audiences, but, if you are marketing to “baby boomers”, you need to consider usability standards and the layout of the website. It doesn’t mean your design can’t be interesting, but your audience will only be receptive if your web design is practical. - Pay a professional
If you want to be the best, hire the best. A second rate website design might save you a few hundred dollars in the short term but it might lose you millions of dollars worth of potential business long term. Image is important and branding is important – a professional and creative design is best sourced from a company who won’t cut corners. - Have a purpose
The most successful web design is one with a purpose. Consider the business value of your website: Is it a promotional banner? Or could it be used to collect client information, sell products (e-commerce) or inform and educate? Consideration of your business goals is a crucial part of building the website that will be most successful for you. Consider calls to action that make a visitor want to keep clicking and find out more about your products and services.
HTML & CSS IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS WEB DESIGN
Modern web designers often use software such as Adobe Photoshop to design websites. Once the design is complete, it needs to be converted into HTML and CSS. This is a text-based language that defines the styles and layouts for a web broswer. HTML and CSS are basically a way of visually representing a web design through a language.
Strict HTML and CSS validation should be a requirement of the design process as it ensures the web site appears similarly across different web browsers and can be used by a variety of devices such as the iPhone. Having quality HTML and CSS code ensures your website has a better chance of being crawled and ranked by major search engines.
Useful Web Design Links
- CSS Mania – A great web design resource when looking for inspiration!
- Design Shack – Inspiration, news and tutorials
- Google SEO Starter Guide – A useful resource to consider when designing a new web site