Website designing is a complex, daunting process, and long process. Many elements go into designing a website. Designers and developers not only need to consider functionality, but also visual appearance that defines the overall experience of the users. With so many elements and aspects that need to be taken care of, the entire process can get tricky and complicated. But with the right tips, tools, and resources, you can design a website that suits the needs of your users. A well-designed professional website is not just limited to aesthetics, the scope of any website is to attract users and to make them understand products and services through high-end content and graphics, texts, and interactions.
To simplify the task, here are a few steps that can help you design a holistic website:
- Defining and designing user flows
This is perhaps the first and most important thing that needs to be considered is user flow or the ways through which a user will navigate through different pages across the website. After all web designing is not only about collating different individual pages; it’s all about creating flows, indicating the path that a user will take to reach its destination.
For instance, Duolingo, a website for learning different languages, gives clear step-by-step instructions to its visitors. Besides, they show live stats of how many users are using their services which helps in enhancing the overall experience of their users.
- Information and website architecture
Information architecture is also known as AI is the process of organizing information logically and clearly. In simple words, it is all about creating and organizing a hierarchy that is in alignment with the user’s expectations and needs.
Big Drop, a website design company is a popular company that offers an exclusive range of website design services specializing in identifying brands, conducting market research, developing UX flow, and designing graphics as per the needs of the business. Their USP is their ability to convert vague and immature concepts into creative web designs.
- Defining navigation
This is perhaps the most critical aspect of usability and user experience. If a user can’t navigate through your website, they are most likely not to return to your website. Hence, a well-defined path is necessary to engage your visitors. This can be done in a number of ways. One such approach is to design a navigation path based on the needs of all users, not just specific ones. For instance, hamburger navigation shouldn’t be used, if the majority of your audiences are not familiar with such paths.
Similarly, prioritize your navigation options and make them visible to your visitors. If you hide your important navigation options, you are risking everything.
One such website design service company known as Hortonworks, came up with a creative solution to solve the problem of users getting lost on the website. When clicking on the main overview page, the user is taken to a form that lands them in the appropriate section on the website. This ultimately allows users to find information easily without getting overwhelmed by extensive content on the website.
- Page structure and format
A well-structured page will enable users to locate and browse each interface element in an effective and efficient way. There is no solid rule for designing web pages, however, a few things can be implemented to enhance user experience. For instance, you can identify common design patterns among competitors and align your page format with the same.
Similarly, the layout grid plays a crucial role in website designing, defining your elements are laid out. With the help of a proper layout, you can align all your elements in a cohesive manner, delivering better value to your users.
For instance, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, a web design company, curates all the content in a lean structure offering a more robust and dynamic solution to their clients.
- Web forms
Forms are the most important types of interaction user experiences on any website. The user should be able to locate these forms and fill them out quickly without any sort of confusion. One way to do so is to design the form in a sequence and logical manner. Many web design services companies focus on these forms to not only enhance the experience but also to build user databases.
Further, all related fields should be grouped together that create and delivers a sense of information that prevents users from leaving the website.
- Visual elements
This is perhaps the most crucial element that any website should make use of. This part of website designing is shaped up of existing brand elements including logo, choices, and color scheme. After all, visual content drives revenue and generates traffic for the website.
Many tools such as Sketch, Illustrator, Canva, and Photoshop are available that can help you in designing high-quality images. Besides, free stock photos can also be used to fetch high-end images, allowing you to grab the attention of your users.
Conclusion
To sum up, designing a website is a tedious and lengthy process that requires bringing together different elements. And designing one, a few things need to be taken care of, especially visual elements and page layout that defines how your user navigates and locates information on the website.
There are a number of website design companies that offer exclusive website design services regardless of industry, type of website, or business you cater to. For instance, Web.com stands out as one of the best web design services in the market that offers end-to-end support for their clients. With the presence of a number of website builders, it’s easy for you to design a website even for website design for services, which is often a complex process.
However, these things are just part of website design. You need to match and mix your ideas with your users needs. Treat your website as a testing ground and continuously evolve using your user feedback and experience, thereby delivering higher value every time a user visits your website.
And always remember one thing, design isn’t for testers and designers, it’s for users who are your ultimate deciding factor.