What is Web Design? Here’s What You Should Know About It
Article by J.C. Yee
Graphics Design by Ryan Rivera
Just like what the term implies, Web Design pertains to the design of websites on the internet. It’s a relatively broad field that includes sub-specialties such as interface design, user experience design, web copywriting, web development, search engine optimization, web hosting and more.
If you’re a lucky business owner, you might just stumble upon a professional web design agency that delivers all the things mentioned above. However, if you still need to scour for more information about why web design is a popular term among businesses nowadays, then this article will help you out.
Web Design involves a myriad of skills and disciplines for a website to be fully functional and maintain its functionality as time progresses. This professional ability is distributed among designers and developers, wherein the former is focused on providing a usable interface, while the latter ensures that the design is put into fruition.
However, take note that the proper web design process does not only include these two. By having a team of web experts working with you, not only a website will be fully realized, but it will also excel in the world wide web.
Below you’ll know the basic elements that comprise web design and why it is important in the modern world.
5 Elements of Web Design
Content
Design attracts; copy sells.
Content is one of the most critical foundations of the web design process. No website can ever be considered effective if it doesn’t have engaging content that encourages users to visit, take action, and visit again. It brings value in websites; commands respect and assists in persuading people that your brand is worth their time.
Nowadays, companies tend to invest more in creative designs and animation over good content. What they don’t know is that apart from being informational, it also helps in putting your website on page 1 of search engine results.
Graphics
An essential element of web design, graphics are implemented to increase user-friendliness and to help people understand your content. The use of graphics such as icons, photos, and illustrations allows a design to breathe, especially for corporate websites that tend to display too much information. In fact, even if your website has too little to show, effective graphic elements can help fill that void, provided their placement is well thought of.
Typography
Here’s a surprise: web design is 95% typography. And typography? Well, it’s not just about choosing the most appealing fonts; it’s about optimizing them so that whatever’s written on your website is readable, accessible, and usable. If a text is hard to read because of a poorly used type, your site’s design is already doomed to fail in captivating users.
Websites that showcase remarkable typography often use fonts that are classified as “display” or “web-safe” to ensure that they are easy to read on every browser and device.
Learn more about why the web is all about typography here.
Color
Color in web design allows a company to provoke emotions and influence decisions. As such, a website’s color scheme should depend on the brand’s purpose and clientele to ensure that they are conveying the right personality to the right audience.
When choosing the right color, a lot of brands tend to look into their clientele and color psychology to determine the character they want. Want to evoke youthfulness? Yellow’s the way to go. Want to exude power? Consider red.
But here’s the catch: peoples’ association with color is subjective and contextual, meaning a website must not only rely on these surface-level principles. Ferrari’s logo is yellow, but youthfulness is not one of their main characteristics. Coca-Cola uses red, but power isn’t their primary element.
To summarize, colors in web design can only get its meaning from context. A careful study of the company’s message will allow a professional web designer to define the right color that complements the site’s content and persona for the user.
Layout
This refers to how pieces of information such as content and graphics are arranged on your website. Layout utilizes the principle of visual hierarchy, wherein the most important elements such as headers are laid out on the top and in bigger sizes. If one element is equally important to another, often, the designer would use a grid method so that they are placed side by side. Think: the navigation bar or main menu of every website.
Balance, consistency, integrity, and symmetry are the most important aspects that comprise a website’s layout. Only by finding the perfect harmony among them can a designer achieve a well-laid out website.
User Experience
A site’s user experience is of utmost importance in web design. It’s the key element that determines your website’s effectiveness since it’s all about making the site user-friendly and easy to navigate. A web designer must have a deep understanding of how a person will use a website and must design it from their perspective to achieve the best results.
Indeed, a website must be attractive, but it is in how it helps a user fulfill their needs that people will appreciate it the most. User experience is the sum of all elements mentioned above; it’s a vital element that helps your business generate leads, conversions, and eventually, sales. Remove one element and your business will suffer from poor consumer rapport.
Also read: Why is UX Design Important? by Verz Design
Why Is Web Design Important?
1. It generates lasting impressions
One goal of web design is similar to that of a first date: make a good, lasting impression. This is an important factor in the web design process because it will affect peoples’ perception of your brand. In fact, it only takes an average of 3 seconds before a viewer judges your website if it’s good or not. Once they’ve made a negative decision after these few seconds, it will be hard to convince them again that your business is worthwhile.
As such, companies that want to stay ahead in the competition or want to live in the minds of customers must invest in good web design. Since a website serves as the gateway to a platform of opportunities for your brand, it’s highly important to never take it for granted.
2. It places your website on top of Google results
There are two ways on how web design can help place your website on top of Google results. One is through Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is a paid internet marketing strategy. And another is by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which is the process of propelling a website on top of search results through organic (non-paid) means. It’s one of the final, more important parts of the web design process as these two are responsible for driving traffic to your website.
As you’ve probably figured it out, the difference between these two is that SEM gathers instant and specific traffic and impressions to your site by paying Google to put you on top of search results. SEO, albeit free, takes a while and requires consistent efforts to get you the desired results. Both are equally important since they complement each other, which is why you should always invest in them as two of the final steps in the web design and development process.
Also read: Why is SEO Required for Businesses?
3. Design builds trust
We’ve all been in a scenario where we arrived at a website and baffled by its poor design. What do we think of it? It’s sketchy and makes us think twice if the company is even trustworthy to begin with.
If you want your business to be trusted by your target audience, then it’s imperative that you invest in good web design. Since a lot of people often turn to the web to learn about a company, conveying the feeling that your business is unreliable is the one thing that you wouldn’t want to happen. Otherwise, they would just look at your competitor’s website and engage their services instead, which brings us to our next point.
4. It keeps your business relevant
It’s important to invest in web design because your competitors are doing it. In this digital age of growing competition, there’s nothing more important than advancing your brand in the competition through the help of good web design.
Since professional web designers stay abreast of the latest design approaches, engaging them will open you to valuable opportunities that can ultimately lead to gaining credibility for your brand.
Engaging in web design services or observing the proper web design process is a proven and effective way to provide customers valuable experiences they will treasure in the long term. Since the world is already making its way to digitalization, we believe that is only right for a business of any size to invest in such a practice that will keep their brand relevant in the minds of their audience.
Interested in knowing how web design can propel your business? Talk to us today. Send us an email at sales@gotafflair.com or contact us at 798 8195 for a free, no-obligation consultation!
