A Comprehensive Guide to Web Design
Websites weren’t around till late 1991. Since then, billions of websites have found their way to the internet. They had gone through a considerable evolution in 30 years. The demand for websites has opened up a whole new world of web design. Web designing is the process of organising the information and visual elements of a webpage in a way that can enhance the user experience. Crafting a web design involves many steps such as Strategy, planning and research, static design and development to name a few. All these steps when executed perfectly can decide how well a website is designed.
The Importance of Web Design
A great website can make or break a business. It is the digital shopfront, where customers can visit, learn and buy from you. By the end of 2023, 71% of the total businesses are going to have an online presence. Over 28% of firms operate online, and over 43% of small businesses want to make investments to improve the functionality of their websites. (Link). These statistics alone convey the importance of having a website to stay ahead of the competition. A good website is the result of a great web design. Let us go deeper into the importance of web design.
First Impressions
A website provides users with a grand first impression of your business online. Your website is representative of your brand.. Investing in web designing can help create a great first impression. Study shows, 94% of first impressions are related to your site’s web design. (WebFX, 2021)
Improve Search Engine Rankings
A good web design includes elements that can help rank in search engines. If the SEO elements are not updated on the website, it can make your website invisible among the competition. There are elements like readability, mobile-friendliness, website speed, sitemaps, URL structure, and website navigation that contribute to better search engine ranking. A good website incorporates all these elements for better performance.
Establish Trust with Customers
People instinctively stay away from poorly designed websites. It is true for all of us. No one trusts a business that has a poor web design. For a person looking to invest a lot of money in a purchase, a poorly designed website will leave a bad impression. Users are more likely to seek another website for similar products or services if they lose trust in how you present the business via your website. A professional website builds trust with your audience.
Increases Conversions
A good web design provides an immersive experience to the users, prompting them to explore more. Likewise, a cluttered website will be complicated to navigate. Potential customers can be converted to customers when they can have a seamless user experience. And a good web design does that, leading to increased conversion rates.
Gives Your Brand Personality
Consistency is the key to business success. The same is true for websites. Many things keep a brand distinct. Logo, colour palette, and fonts are key essentials to make your brand distinct. A good web designer takes all these elements into account and subtly incorporates them into your web design. This creates consistency while giving your brand a personality.
Measure Up To Competitors
As per studies by 2023, the number of websites worldwide has surpassed 1.1 billion (Link). This gives a clear picture of the competition among businesses. Every company is gearing up their arsenal with high-functional websites to integrate seamless user experiences. Hence, it is crucial to take out the outdated, low-quality web design and replace it with a good web design to stand out from the competition.
Elements of Quality Web Design
Now that we understand the importance of having a good web design, let us look into the essential elements that make a good website. These are the factors to be incorporated in designing an efficient website.
Solid Navigation
As we had discussed before, a website with a user-friendly interface can convert a visitor to a customer. The ease of navigation can prompt visitors to explore more into the website. Poor navigation can discourage the audience from engaging with your website. A clutter-free interface that provides easy access to information will help your audience browse through in comfort.
Responsive Mobile Website Design
Since more people are accessing the web through a multitude of devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops and desktops, responsive design has become more relevant than ever. Responsive design ensures the quality of user experience, regardless of the devices used. The website will adapt to the device used, keeping the users engaged.
Quality Content: Copy, Imagery and Videos
A good website is the combination of the perfect amount of content, images and videos. But one must be careful of the proportion of these elements while including them. Pictures of high quality slow down the whole page. Statistics show that 39% of users will stop viewing your website if the images won’t load or are taking too long to load (Link). Videos can engage customers more than images. Including them along with short, crisp content can boost your website traffic.
Call to Action (CTA)
A website can only be successful when a visitor takes an action. A Call to Action, or CTAs, is a great way to remind people to conduct an action while also making it simple for them to do so. These buttons can be seen throughout a website; some examples include Read More, Download Now, Contact Us, etc.
The Relevance of Figma in Web Designing
There are many design tools available for web designers today. However, each of these comes with different requirements when it comes to skill sets and know-how. Figma, a cloud-based design tool can be used for an array of design requirements, from logos to websites. It is a vector drawing program at its core. Let us discuss a few things that make Figma stand out from other design tools.
- Any operating system with a web browser will be able to use Figma. Figma may be implemented with Macs, Windows PCs, Linux computers, and even Chromebooks. It is the only design tool of its kind that can do this, and Figma files can still be opened, shared, and edited by anyone in businesses that employ gadgets running multiple operating systems.
- Figma is a powerful tool for WordPress blogs. It can combine many key features of various design tools and create solutions to provide a more efficient and powerful workflow. This makes it an excellent tool for creating corporate websites, particularly those for large corporations.
- Since Figma is a cloud-based tool, it can dive into the internet for necessary information making it a highly functional design tool. Web designers consider Figma as the best tool for creating web prototypes. It includes multiple templates and designs for creating a variety of web prototypes.
How Planetmedia Can Put You Ahead in the Website Game
We, at Planetmedia, are a team of dedicated professionals who aim to cater to the needs of our customers. Our team of web designers utilise Figma as the platform for designing websites. We have a long list of satisfied clients who have found their best web designs with us. At Planetmedia, we provide a wide array of services including web designing and brand activations. An example of our successful web design model is given below.
Fiji High Commission
The Fiji High Commission is the representative body of the Government of Fiji in Australia. They provide information regarding Fijian government services, traveler details and investment opportunities. They had reached out to Planetmedia for our services in web hosting and maintenance. A closer inspection by our team had found that the website required a complete renovation. The old website was outdated and unresponsive.
Our team worked with the High Commission to understand their needs, values, and goals, and to create a customised plan that met their unique needs. The web design was based on the layout of the initial website. Our team visited the Fiji High Commission regularly for requirement gathering, project updates and design reviews. This helped us to understand the needs and necessities to undergo the development process.
The Fiji High Commission no longer has any issues with outdated plugins, content or designs with the help of Planetmedia. Take a look at their website to discover it for yourself!
