Web design in the New Forest, Hampshire

Websites are more than just pretty buttons and large photos. They help your business attract visitors, tell your story and ultimately sell your product.

Taking this into account, I believe in taking the time to ensure that every element of the site is working towards your final goal, which in my opinion, is to understand the user's needs and how we can begin to solve her problems.

In my experience, web design processes can vary greatly depending very much on the overall goal of the site: Is it a platform to sell? Is it a point of contact? Does it need to tell a story? However, my design process often looks something like this:

- Step 1: Identification of overall goal and the scope of the site.

- Step 2: Mapping of the user journey, creation of low definition frames and flow map. Content creation takes place at this stage too.

- Step 3: Completion of site pages in high definition and launch.

step 1: know your goal

It may seem a simple question but one that takes some time to figure out: what is the purpose of your new website? It could be one or more of the following:

- Sell your products online.

- Represent your core brand values

- A platform for your customers to get in touch with you

- Inform/educate

It is my job to dig deep and ask about your end users and develop a working knowledge of the competition by benchmarking other sites in your industry.

At this stage, we will also start thinking about your brand attributes and the style direction we may want to take. As a company you may already have a logo and brand guidelines but you could have also been trading for some time, without a coherent brand direction and could use your website as the embodiment of your brand.

At the end of this stage we would have defined clearly the overall goal of the site, the scope of pages needed, the visual style of the brand and what others in your market space are doing.

step 2: low definition design

By now I know how many pages are required and what sort of features need to be included and this takes place by looking at the user journey through the site.

A flow map is created to understand navigation through the website and I can begin to look at design and layout inspiration with the use of low definition frames. At this stage, I will also start considering content by looking at google keyword planner and coming up with punchy body text that is consistent with the voice of your brand.

This stage can be a little gray, so I like to keep my clients motivated with the creation of the first draft of their homepage. This is to keep spirits high and it really paints a picture of the direction we are taking. It can also help identify big no-nos for the client and dismiss visual mistakes early own.

step 3: ready to launch

The last steps of the journey are the completion of the different pages of your site in high definition, together with the final refinement of all visual elements such as imagery, fonts and buttons to get the UX (this is user experience) just right.

After a period of testing and further refinement, you are ready to launch and we can talk about connecting you with professionals that can enhance your SEO and social media marketing.

Are we best friends yet?