Web Design

Responsive Web Design Soloutions

What separates design from art is that design is meant to be... functional

Your website content needs to align with what your research has shown your target audiences are looking for. Your website functionality needs to support what you want your site visitors to do, as well as support what your site visitors want to do.

The visual design of your website needs to look current to your target audiences and it needs to clearly reinforce your brand values. And your website needs to be responsive to different display sizes to give the best user experience it can on smartphones, tablets, laptops and larger desktop monitors.

Content

Function

Visual

When you have completed the planning process you will have a strategy that aligns with where you want your business to be seen, how you want it to be seen and how people will engage with you.

Web design has to cover more than just how a site will look. In fact how your web site looks makes the least contribution to the returns you can gain from your site. This is why we place greater emphasis on getting the mechanics and content right rather than stressing over cosmetic styling.

Content Design | Quality Counts

Content is king, always has been and always will be. It's what we all use the web for. Content takes many forms but for most businesses the core elements are copy (words) and image (pictures & graphics). Video and audio also need to be considered. For businesses in the multi-media sector they are essential content elements. Attention spans are shrinking so the skill is in getting your message over clearly and concisely enough to keep your audience interested. Ultimately you want your content to impress your audience enough for them to take the action you'd like them to take.

“High quality web content that's useful, usable, and enjoyable is one of the greatest competitive advantages you can create for yourself online.” Kristina Halvorson

Creating quality content requires a content plan. This plan will always go beyond the point where a web site is unveiled to the public for the first time. It has to, because not having a longer term content plan will result in a web site that rarely changes. Search engines take more notice of web sites where new content is regularly added.

As part of our web design process we layout what content should be created, where content will feature on your web site and how each piece of content relates to other pieces of content. And most importantly, we ensure content is supportive of SEO objectives. All of this work will be informed by the research that was done as part of the planning process.

Functional Design | The Mechanics

Quality content needs to be supported by good functionality. Your content plan plays a key part in determining what functionality will be needed and how that functionality should work. For example, if your content plan contains video you will need to decide where that video content will be stored and how your audience will view it. If you plan to sell and be paid online you will need to consider options for ecommerce functionality.

“Form follows function.” Louis Sullivan

Function should always precede form because shoe horning functionality into a visual scheme never works. An architect knows this when they are designing a house. We'll define what functionality will be required and we'll help you make informed choices about options, taking into consideration the investment it's sensible to make based on the internet marketing strategy.

Visual Design | Reinforcing Your Brand

How your site looks does matter. And this applies to each of the different device types we all use to view web content. The most important visual design reference is a businesses brand identity, and this extends beyond a logo. First impressions do count but gloss without substance will produce disappointing results.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo Da Vinci

Apple are one of the strongest global brands. Their visual design philosophy is easy to read, it's clean and simple. The design guide is also clear, it's their brand, from logo to text styling to colours. But, it's your brand that's important when it comes to designing the visual appearrance of your web site.

If your brand is tired we'll help you update it. We'll use your brand identity to produce a visual web site design that supports and enhances your business on the web. We'll produce a visual design that will cater for the different devices your target audience will be using.