Building and launching a website can be a daunting task that requires a certain amount of technical knowledge, experience, and creativity. From deciding on which platform to use to designing and coding the website, the process can sometimes seem daunting. Luckily, website design is not as complicated as it may seem, and understanding it through a complete guide can help you begin to make progress in developing your own website.
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Website design entails a series of steps for creating a website that is both visually appealing and technically functional. If you’re unfamiliar with web design, you should read this complete guide. This guide will give you an in-depth overview of what web design is all about, what factors you need to know while selecting a web designer in Lahore, website elements, structure, speed, and everything you need to know about website design.
What Is Website Design?
Website design is the process of building and making a website, including its layout, content, and visual appearance. It involves creating the look and feel of a website, along with designing and coding the site itself. Website design is an art that requires creativity, technical know-how, and an understanding of both how the web works as well as user-experience.
A website’s design is the first thing a user will notice when they visit a website. Website designers need to know the basics of HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to craft websites that look good and work well. Also, they need to know how to use their design skills to achieve the goal of a website – providing a stunning user experience.
Why Is Web Design Important?
Every business today knows how important is a good website design for your business. Whether you’re selling products or services or just providing information, a user-friendly website design is highly important to get the most out of your online presence.
Website design is the face of your brand. An effective website design helps you create a credible identity and lets your target audience recognize your brand. Through user-friendly colors, fonts, and graphics, your website traffic will quickly deliver your brand message to your audience.
As you all know, website design holds great importance when you run an online business. It helps you create a professional brand identity, makes a positive first impression, and helps optimize the website for user experience, search engine rankings, and mobile devices.
You should ensure that you have a responsive web design since more than 50% of your website traffic might come from mobile devices. Keep in mind that both desktop and mobile users will use your website. So, design it accordingly to make it more visually appealing to users on both platforms and decrease the bounce rate.
Factors You Need to Know While Selecting a Web Designer
Hiring an expert website designer for your business is a tricky decision for sure, but consider it wisely, as a good web designer will build your website to look appealing, function correctly, and ensure maximum brand visibility. Do your research carefully, and you will be sure to find the best web designer for the job.
Here are the top 8 factors you need to know while selecting a web designer. Let’s have a look at these important factors.
Experience
You should know that it’s always best to choose a web designer that has experience in your industry. It’ll prove to be the best resource because they’ll have a better understanding of the challenges and demands of designing a website that fits into your online marketing strategy.
Portfolio
It is important that you view the portfolio of a web designer- not only their own work but of work performed for various clients who share a similar niche as yours.
Usability
You make sure that the website the designer produces is easy to use and user-friendly. After all, the design means nothing if users can’t find their way around the website.
Data Security
Your web designer should provide you with a secure hosting solution to ensure all your data is properly stored, transmitted, and processed safely.
Responsive Design
Ensure that your web designer creates a website that is mobile-friendly and uses a responsive framework. Responsive design will make your website looks great on both mobile and desktop devices.
SEO-Friendly
Look for a web designer who is adept at performing the best SEO practices. It will help your website index easily and gets maximum visibility in the search engines.
Budget and Rates
Most web design projects come with a set budget. It is important to discuss the hourly rates of the designer and be clear about how the budget should be allocated between development, design, and hosting.
Communication
Last but not least, make sure the web designer you choose is a good communicator and has a clear understanding of your requirements, and is willing to answer any questions or queries you may have.
Two Main Ways to Design a Website
The desktop app and website builder are two main ways to design a website. Different factors decide which tool you should choose. These include team size, your estimated budget, website type, and technical needs and requirements.
Desktop Apps
Photoshop and Sketch are two of the most popular desktop apps for making websites. This is usually the standard for big or complicated websites because it lets the designer focus on the overall look and feel while the team of website development handles all the technical challenges. Unfortunately, this process can be expensive and take a long time because it requires many different tools, skills, and team members.
Using a website builder to make a website with minimum technical needs is a good way to avoid hiring a developer.
Website Builders
Find out what your website needs are before you start building it: Are you making a gallery of pictures? How often will your site be updated? Do you need a form to get in touch? Choose a website builder that will help you reach your goals in the best way possible.
There are a variety of website builders available now, each with its own unique set of features and services. Popular website builders like Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and Pagecloud all have different design tools, template options, prices, and overall editing experiences. Make sure to do research, try out free trials, and figure out which platform will work best for your website.
Website builders make websites that are either adaptive or responsive, which offer different ways to build. If you don’t know how to code, you need to know what you can and can’t do with different website design tools. For example, WordPress websites are the most popular websites platform, but visual designers don’t like it because they can’t change it much.
What Are the Important Elements of Web Design?
When you start designing your website, it’s important to consider the five main elements of web design: layout, images, typography, color, and content. Keep in mind that these elements should all work together in harmony to create the best user experience.
Layout
The layout of your website should be designed to make navigation easy and intuitive. The user should be able to find the information quickly, and it should be easy to navigate. It is really important to consider how your website will look on different screen sizes and devices. Moreover, optimize your website for different internet speeds.
Images
Including images on your website can help create an engaging experience. They can be used to communicate a message and make content easier to consume. Images should be used strategically and should be optimized for size and speed.
Content
Content is king when we talk about web design. The content you write should be well-written, accurate, and easy to read. It should be written keeping the target audience in mind, and above all, that should be SEO optimized content. Do you want to break up long pieces of text and make your content easier to consume? Use different images, videos, and other forms of media to spread your brand message quickly and effectively.
Typography
Typography is another important part of web design, as you can use it to create a visual hierarchy on a web page. By using different font sizes, weights, and typefaces, you can create an aesthetically pleasing layout for your website. Make sure you use readable fonts, typefaces, and text to scale correctly for various screen sizes.
Colors
The colors of a website can have a huge impact on the mindsets of users. It’s important to choose catchy colors according to the nature of your products or services. Also, consider factors such as the general color scheme and branding. The goal of colors should be to create contrast and harmony on a website.
What Are the Functional Elements of Website Design?
Following are the five functional elements of website design that enable users to interact with a website efficiently. Have a quick glance.
Navigation
Navigation is the most important functional element of website design. It allows users to get from one page to another quickly and easily. If you have a poorly structured navigation bar, it can lead to confusion, and your users will give up on your website altogether. When designing your website’s navigation system, keep it simple and user-friendly. Place the main navigational options at the top of the page, clearly labeled. Moreover, it must include subcategories to help website traffic find more specific information.
Forms
You can use forms in a variety of ways, from collecting information to providing feedback. Always keep your form simple, organized, and clear. There will be greater chances of form completion by your users if they put less effort into filling the forms. Make sure you label your forms properly and arrange their items logically.
Buttons
Call-to-action buttons are one of the most common functional elements of web design. They help users act upon a website’s content, such as subscribing to a newsletter or purchasing a product.
Make sure that your call-to-action buttons are visible and clearly labeled. Also, don’t forget to consider using a contrasting color to make them stand out from the rest of the webpage.
Search Function
Including a search function on your website is incredibly helpful for users. This allows them to easily locate the information they are looking for without having to navigate through pages and pages of irrelevant content.
Make sure that the search box is easily accessible and, ideally, at the top right corner of the page. So, place it where your users are most likely to expect it.
Speed
No one likes a website that has a slow speed. If a page takes more than a few seconds to load, a visitor may decide not to stay on your site or come back. No matter how pretty your site is, if it takes too long to load, it won’t do well in search, which means it won’t rank high on Google.
Most of the time, the top site builders will compress your content so that it loads faster, but this isn’t always the case. Make sure to do proper research on which site builders will work best for your content. For example, you may get the help of Page Cloud, which optimizes your images so that sites with many and/or large photos load quickly.
What Does a Good Website Design Look Like?
A good website design should have a natural ability to engage users. The design should include an organized layout, attractive visuals, and a clear and easy-to-read font. A properly designed website should be easy to navigate so that your users quickly get to the pages they are looking for.
Above all, a good website design should also include important information that is easy to find, such as contact information, services, and product details.
Clarity is key. Don’t try to make complex designs, as they can overwhelm the user and cause confusion and frustration. Your web design should be simple and consistent, with each page having similar typography, visuals, and layout.
A goal that you should set while designing your website is to make the site enjoyable and easy to use. Also, there should be a skillful blend of colors, fonts, and images together to create a cohesive design.
Finally, the design should be responsive and mobile-friendly. Millions of people access websites on mobiles and tablets. So, try to make your website easy to navigate and well-optimized for small screens. Follow these guidelines to create a website that looks great and works well.
How Will Stradigi Help You in Website Design?
Stradigi is the leading website development company in Lahore. We specialize in creating custom-designed websites that are aesthetically pleasing, highly functional, and integrated with the most up-to-date web technologies.
Our designs focus on creating beautiful visuals and user experiences combined with intuitive navigation and fast loading speeds. We are experienced in the development of all kinds of websites, from corporate sites to e-commerce stores and everything in between.
We take pride in delivering top-quality customer service, ensuring each and every client’s satisfaction with their project. Our team has professionals who possess the skills and know-how required to ensure success.
With our expertise and dedication, we strive to make sure our clients walk away from their projects with a great website that truly represents their company. We believe that we are the best website designing company in Lahore.
Let’s Work Together!
Contact us through the website or email or call us today to speak with our expert web designers to make a website that truly represents your business and customer preferences.
We look forward to working with your business in reaching new heights and climaxes!