What is web design?
Web design is the “look and feel” of a website. A website must not only have strong visual appeal but also simple, user-friendly functionality. Web design makes sure that the website is usable even when users switch devices. Most companies make sure their websites are well-designed based on factors including usefulness, aesthetics, and a variety of others. Republic Malaysia is an example of a reputable web design company.
Additionally, if a web design checks out all the elements that it needs to attract a lot of people that it might have a huge impact on the web’s performance in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Some of the elements that you need to keep an eye out for in the visual department are:
- Written copy
- Font
- Colours
- Layout, shapes
- Spacing
- Images
- Icons
- Video
Meanwhile, the functional elements that you should focus on are:
- Navigation
- User interaction
- Animations
- Speed
- Site structure
- Cross-browser and cross-device compatibility
Web design tool
Two ways to design a website – a desktop app or a website builder. Based on your team size, budget, the type of site you want to create, and its requirements will affect the tools that you need to decide to use.
- Desktop apps
This way will need designers to build the design and deliver it to a development team who are able to convert the design to code. Commonly used desktop apps are Photoshop and Sketch.
Desktop apps are ideal for large websites since it allows the designer to the aesthetic of the website. Meanwhile, the technical challenges are handled by the development team. Due to its processes, this can require a lot of expenses and a lot of time due to the need for multiple resources, the development team’s skills, and team members.
- Website builder
Looking at how dominating technology is today; a lot of businesses have gone online. Hence, it is easy for them to build their own website from the ground up. Hence, affordable services are available; for example, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and PageCloud. The websites differ in terms of design capabilities, template options, price, and editing experience.
Hence, before building a website, ask yourself – how often will you update your website? Do you need to create a contact form? Choose which website builder suits you best.
Types of web design
Understanding the type of website you need will help you decide which website builder is the best for your web design. Presently, a lot of users opt for mobile. Therefore, you only need two website styles to design your website – adaptive and responsive.
- Adaptive websites
This web design utilizes two or more versions of a website. This will allow it to be customizable on specific screen sizes – mobile, desktop, tablet, etc. This type of website can be split into two types, device type, and browser width.
For device-type websites, the HTTP request will be included in a field known as “user-agent” when your browser connects to a website. This process will inform the server of the type of device attempted to view said page. Adaptive websites can detect what version of the site to display based on the device being used.
Meanwhile, browser width type websites utilize media queries which is a feature that allows a webpage to follow different screen sizes and certain width sizes. This offers more flexibility in designing and a better visual experience. Hence, instead of desktop, tablet, and mobile versions, users will have 1080px, 768px, and 480px width versions.
- Responsive websites
Responsive websites are able to utilize grid layouts based on percentages. Therefore, if an element (a header, perhaps) is 25% in one grid, then the element will stay at 25% regardless of the screen size change. So, responsive websites are always changing according to the screen sizes, unlike adaptive websites that adapt only when they hit a breakpoint.
How does web design gain profit for the business?
- Sets the first impression
Your web design helps users to perceive your brand. In the first few seconds of users judging your business, you would want to make a good first impression on your audience.
- User-friendly interface
Users enjoy easy navigation on websites. Information on the website should be easy to gain and simple to read. Apart from website development, the developer should regularly test the pages – to check if it is easy to navigate for users. If a website is user-friendly then it would surely gain more traffic for the web.
- Win with SEO
An important feature to observe for websites, Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Various websites are competing for the top in search engine result pages (SERPs). While this was becoming a problem, there is a need for a system and that is SEO. Through web developments and design, a website gets to attain a higher rank in the search engine.
- Rich in visual
Spice things up on your website development by placing more images, videos, and animations on your site. With the guidance of search engine optimization, enterprises get the freedom to choose the number of promo videos and images to include.
Additionally, the positive thing about putting up visuals is that users are able to know what the product looks like. Not everyone can understand the product through text. Hence, the inclusion of images can be beneficial.
- Increase in sales
Web design can effectively aid a business venture to attract more sales. Nowadays, most businesses are venturing online and conducting online transactions. It is easier and there is no need for physical proximity to initiate sales. To promote products, it is encouraged webmasters to constantly update the website.
Other than that, promotions are encouraged as well. There should be traffic and buzz around the promotion among users. Traffic goes hand in hand with the increasingly growing number of customers. Therefore, activities on the website could be beneficial for customers.