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In the modern digital age, a website is often the main point of contact between a company and its customers. Therefore, it is very important that your site not only looks great, but also functions perfectly. Creating a website is a process that can take a lot of time and effort, especially if you are not familiar with the digital world. High-quality interaction between the customer and the web designer is a key factor in the success of the project, so you need to follow a few simple tips that will help you create a beautiful, functional and effective website.
Regardless of whether you work with a design studio or with a freelance designer, there are certain things you can do to make the process go smoothly.In this article we will give you tips and recommendations on how to order the perfect website design.
We will look at everything from defining expectations, agreeing on deadlines and ending with providing feedback.
By the end of this article, you will be armed with the knowledge you need to confidently work with a designer and get your dream website.
Be clear and specific.
It is important to understand that the designer will not be able to create a perfect website without your help. Design is a symbiosis of use and beauty. You need to convey to the performer 2 main parameters: what benefits does the site have - functional requirements, what role does beauty play in your site - aesthetic requirements. According to these criteria, you will evaluate the final result.
Define the goals of your website. What do you want to achieve with this website? What kind of audience do you want to attract? What should be the functionality of the site- will there be a shopping cart, a personal account, payment on the site or is it an informational site- only information and contacts or a section with articles, an interactive application form? What benefits will the site bring to visitors, what problem will it solve?
Information can be provided freely in a text document as a wish list (for example: I need an online store selling handmade products-bags, 50 items with a basket and payment, without a personal account. Our bags are made by hand and we can make small changes to the products- change the accessories / color /strap.
We have a logo, corporate colors and photos of products, there are no texts for the site, there are several advertising booklets) or use a ready-made template - link here. If you are not sure that you know the answers to the brief's questions or you need additional advice - call the designer or project manager - then the designer will ask for the information necessary to create a sketch himself, conduct an interview. You will be guided by this document when accepting the work, and the designer will refer to it.
Depending on the type of project, the aesthetic part plays more or less importance. Every business has a “vibe”, meaning, emotions- someone's business carries a lot of rational and little emotional - for example, the sale of rolled steel. And someone else's on the contrary- for example, a brand of jewelry made of rough stones. As a rule, the higher the mark-up for the brand, the more emotions the business carries. It is important not to forget when selling “pipes”, too, that feelings are always stronger than logic. And the most rational business carries a feeling - that's the very rationality and logic.
It will not be possible to transfer the brand colors and logo to the designer and get the perfect option. So what else is needed for a strong result?
It is necessary to describe the “mood” of a brand or business, the feelings that a person should have. For example, the Volvo - the safest car in the world - gives a sense of security. How can I formulate requirements for this mood if I don't feel anything - just business? and how will it be expressed practically?
If there are no “feelings” or you find it difficult to describe them, the designer will make a “mudboard” - a set of photos that conveys the mood. It is important to understand that the feeling is never lonely - there are always several of them. Practically, “feelings” are formed by compositional techniques and supported by content (photos and text). For example, to convey reliability and tradition, a designer can choose a triangle composition - with a logo in the middle. The most stable figure is one that conveys stability, but has the potential for growth. Or, for example, contrasting typography (combinations of large headings and not very large text) with an asymmetric composition will help create a sense of innovation and dynamism. The specific compositional technique largely depends on the content, the same feelings can be conveyed in different ways. It is important that the content for filling the site meets the brand too - you will not be able to show “premium” with low-quality photos.
What should I do if I don't understand what I like about web design and what will suit my business? In such cases, the designer selects references - this is a set of screenshots of similar sites- the same subject, the same colors, a company with the same values. Do not be afraid to show the designer those sites that you like because of fears that you will simply copy the site- voice the requirements- “I like it, but I don't want a copy”, and vice versa if you want a copy of the page or fragment or reception- do not hesitate- you will not lose your individuality by repeating the reception
Modern design, fashionable design is the most frequent requirement for a designer. How to evaluate and understand what is fashionable now. Where to look? On competitors? how to evaluate the result?
We recommend looking at competitors necessarily- but in order to evaluate marketing techniques, page structure, texts. The actual design can be viewed on the awwwords resource in the website of the day section - this is an international resource on which projects marked by the professional community are published, but at the same time they are actually implemented and not concepts “for hype” or only “for the creative award”. Creative concepts can be viewed on dribble and behans (pay attention to the projects marked with ribbons - they received “special” approval).
There are also common things characteristic of all modern websites. This is the absence of long text (the user usually does not read the text line by line, but scans). The text is written in an informational style - short, succinct, focused on sales.. There is animation - light unobtrusive - it enriches the impression, but does not interfere with reading / watching. Neat fonts- as a rule, 1-2 fonts are used- for example, with serifs without serifs. There is air (free space) and a clear structure - the site is like a script - consistently screen by screen tells about a product or company - without trying to cram “everything on 1 screen” dividing it into a large number of zones. Adaptability- the site is designed to look good regardless of the device.
How is the work going and how to evaluate the result? How long does website design take?
Most often, the designer transmits his work as a link to the Figma file.
First, the designer makes an analysis of competitors, makes a mudboard and selects references - shows the customer and clarifies the positions. Then he makes sketches of the page- the main one or several- for example, for an online store, usually a card and a catalog, makes animation- again clarifies the positions. For sketches, it is better to use the real content of the future site, you must provide a photo, or the designer will take pictures from photo stocks, provide text- the designer can write an approximate text that you will edit, we do not recommend using random text. And after the approval of the main pages, the remaining pages of the project, forms, pop-ups, animation are created.
Layouts look like a set of pages in different resolutions, at least 2 for desktop and mobile, but there are also 5 for a widescreen monitor, desktop, tablet and small tablet (mobile horizontal), mobile vertical. In addition, designers make up a Kit for a layout designer when development is carried out not within the company but by a freelancer, take out the colors used, fonts and prepare a brief description, leave contacts for communication if questions arise. Animation is transmitted more often in the form of videos.
Since there are several stages in the designer's work, the deadlines depend not only on how quickly the designer will complete the work, but also on the speed of approval and the number of edits. The most time is taken by the creation and approval of the main pages - the rest are prepared faster.
The result of the work can be evaluated by 2 parameters - functional and aesthetic.
It is usually not difficult to evaluate the functional part - we all use websites and can easily imagine ourselves as a user. It is important to look at the design at the resolution on which the layout is drawn- since the layout does not change the scale - the desktop version needs to be viewed on the computer and the mobile version on the phone (the Figma file opens on the mobile) this way you can more accurately understand whether the buttons are convenient to press, whether everything is visible / clear.
Aesthetics should be evaluated from the point of view of reflecting the mood of the brand or your business. The site should be neat and evoke pleasant feelings.
How to evaluate the technical quality of the layout? That's how it will most likely not be possible to immediately assess the quality of the layout, digital is a very dynamic sphere and the rules read on the Internet are probably no longer relevant. For example, earlier layouts were created mainly using modular bootstrup grids of multiples of 8px and were drawn in Photoshop, several years have passed - a huge number of screen sizes have appeared, the approach to grids has changed, the bootstrap is outdated, designers use power lines more often than modular grids and are not tied to 8, multiplicity is more often 10px, and Photoshop has been supplanted by Figma. With a poor-quality layout, it will not be too convenient for the layout designer to work, but it is not impossible, you can make up everything.
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