Website Design Process - (3) Unique Website Design
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Unique website design
Some people use templates to create websites. This is quick, easy and inexpensive, as the design work has already been done. Indeed, there are some good templates out there. However, forcing text and images into a pre-defined design has its drawbacks.
Suppose you work very hard on your website content, it is unique to you and presents your organisation in the best possible light. You then take all this unique content and squeeze it into a pre-defined template - but someone else does exactly the same thing with his or her content. There are no prizes for doing the same thing as someone else.
You will probably want your website to be the only one of its kind. After all, your website is an announcement of your business, not anyone else's. In order to achieve this we start each site from scratch and let the content rule how the design will take shape. This way we do not force our sites to look a certain way; they are individual, distinctive and custom made to suit our clients.
Your website should match your overall corporate scheme, that is, the look and feel of your logos, styles and colours. We can use your current marketing materials to get ideas.
These are the main things we consider during the design process:
Colour Scheme - an appropriate colour scheme will give the site a sense of visual identity that is in keeping with the purpose of the site. If there are any existing design cues already in place e.g. a company logo or colour scheme this is good starting point.
A Website Map - this will illustrate how many pages there will be, what will be on them and how they will link together. We like to think of this as laying the foundations - it will form the basis of all work coming up. This ensures the site has a logical structure from the outset and reflects the goals and objectives of the website.
Navigation - this ties in with the website map and determines how the website visitors are going to find their way around. We decide where the navigation elements will be - down the side of the page, along the top or presented in some other way. Wherever they go simplicity and ease of use are crucial so people can find what they are looking for.
Layout - this determines how the main content of each page will be displayed (which usually consists of text and images), as well as page headers and footers.
Website mock-up
In the first instance we will create a mock-up of your website for your perusal. This will not be a functional web page, it will be a static image showing the key design elements, including: the colour scheme, navigation elements, header graphics, text and image placement and page footers.
You will have the opportunity to view your website mock-up in our password protected development zone so you can see how it is progressing. We welcome your feedback during this stage - if you have any changes to suggest regarding the website layout or if there is something about the design you do not like it is wise to tell us at this point so we can make adjustments.
We will be happy to make changes at your reasonable request until you are satisfied with the layout. By reasonable request we do mean reasonable. We cannot offer you an unlimited number of design changes, as the site would never be finished! Two or three alterations are sensible.
We allow you to see how your website will look in these early stages of the design process to ensure there are no last minute shocks when the site is finished and ready for launching.
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