Menu
You might have just started your business and been in need of a website for it. All the process of creating your website starts with web design. Many people think that you should go to front-end developers in the beginning and trust them to deliver a fully functioning and visually jaw-dropping website.
However, if we design and code a website throughout developing it, many UX and UI problems will remain ignored. That can cause your company to bear lots of financial losses. Whether you are a business just starting out or you are learning about web design, sit back and enjoy reading while we cover all that you need to know about web design.
Web design starts by identifying the goals of the business and what we are going to achieve by the end of the process. For example, is the website going to sell something? Is the website going to lead the users to send a message, or book a meeting or a call? When the goal is identified, we need to create a roadmap and a timeline for the things that have to be achieved.
This is defining the scope of the project. For example, we determine that the website should have a contact page where users can find the contact information of the business. Or it should have a checkout page or an Add to Cart function. After that, we should determine the sitemap and what the general layout of pages and sections, and functions should look like. This is what we call Wireframing.
After that, the visual elements of the website like shapes, buttons, animations, colors, and fonts should be determined and designed. All the illustrations should also be done in this stage. After that, we should test the website compared to its competitors and how users would react to it.
This is what we call user testing and prototyping. In this stage, some randomly chosen users will view the prototype and explain how they find the experience. If there are things that need improvements, they will be determined before the project moves forward to front-end development. After all of these stages of web design, the project will be delivered to front-end developers to finalize the product.
Now, let us take a look at the stages of web design in detail.
UX stands for User Experience. Before we start the process of web design, UX designers have to design the way that users interact with the website, how easy it will be for users to make a purchase, or how users can find what they are looking for on the website. A user experience designer has to research the web design trends, prepare draft layouts of the website, make sure the website has a good structure compared to the competitors and fulfills the goals of the business.
User experience design creates a skeleton for the website by providing a first draft of where things will be located on the screen. There is no need for specifying colors, fonts, shapes, or animations just yet. We will only decide on the layout here.
This layout will undergo revision by all team members. This first draft, known as lo-fi wireframe, will improve so much until everyone is sure that it matches the business’s expectations, and that users will have no problem interacting with the website.
UI stands for User Interface. When we talk about UI design, we are referring to the process of designing all the visual aspects of web design. UI design is the second step in web design. When we have our wireframes ready and the user experience design has determined the user journey map, a UI designer can start using shapes, colors, fonts, etc. to give the website attractive visuals.
While doing this, a UI designer should make sure that everything is in line with the branding of the business. The fonts and colors should be consistent. The design should reflect the business’s function. It should give the users a feeling of happiness if the business is about children’s storybooks.
It is essential to make sure that users will find the experience designed for the website suitable. This should happen before the website gets to the development stage. In order to do this, we need to simulate the website functions and animations after the pages are ready. We should allow some random users to interact with the website and monitor their reactions. If it is hard for them to find something on the website, the issue should be identified and fixed before the development stages.
There are several types of testing for the website. For example, on some occasions, you might need to test the website against competitor websites. You might also need to check whether your website represents the same functions better than your competitors or not.
After all of these are over, you can safely move forward to front-end development.
A lot of people ask why it is not possible to just give the project to front-end developers as they have experience with web development. The reason for this is that you cannot be sure how users will find the experience with your website.
Web developers are not responsible for designing user experience or user interface. All they can do is help you with coding and debugging. Web design is the most important step of web development. If your business fails at web design, you will have to undergo lots of financial and time losses. It is always better to invest in web design, and provide a good experience for your potential customers, so they keep coming back to you.
If you need help or advice, our professional team of designers and developers is ready and available for new web design and development projects.