After you’ve completed the first part of the planning process you now have a good understanding of what you really want out of your website and what content you want it to contain. At this point you’re already doing better than most people that launch a new site, but there’s still a little bit more planning that you can do to make the process even smoother and more successful.
The aspects of planning that are covered in this post are more related to the makeup of the actual website, whereas yesterday we looked at goals and big picture aspects of the plan.
Parts of the Design Process that Should Be Planned:
1. Colors
If you are designing a website for an existing business, chances are the business already has established websites, which can make this step easy. If the business does already have colors you will want to use them in the design in order to help with branding and recognition.
If the business does not have an exisiting color scheme, or if you need to choose some secondary or complimentary colors to use in addition to the standard business colors, this is something that should be given considerable thought. Not only can the colors drastically impact the look and appearance of the site, but they can also impact visitors psychologically. For more information regarding the psychology of colors and for a list of some great tools for choosing colors, read Find the Perfect Colors for Your Website.
2. Logo
Once again, if you’re woking on a site for an established busines you may be in luck. Obviously, you will want to use any existing logo (unless it’s due for a re-design itself) in the new website. If there is no existing logo you can either create one yourself or look into getting one professionally designed. It’s good to know at least the size and colors of a logo beforehand so you can plan accordingly. If the site is completely designed and then you try to stick in a logo someone it can look cramped or out of place.
3. Slogans and Catch Phrases
Any slogans or sayings that the business uses in its other marketing efforts should also be used on the website. All of the first three items listed here will help you to give your customers a consistent message that will help them to shape their observations and opinions of your business.
4. Layout
Most designers prefer to skecth out a design (or some create Photoshop files) before actually starting to code. In order to create a layout that will successfully work for a site you’ll need to consider the contents of the pages as well. For example, you don’t want to spend your time creating a beautiful three column layout only to find that a two column layout is more suitable for the content of the pages.
5. Structure of the Site
On top of deciding on a layout, you also will want to decide the basic structure of the site. The structure refers to how the pages are connected. What primary pages will you have? Typically there will be a Homepage, About Us, Contact Us, Products or Services, FAQ, etc. Under Services you may have 3 secondary pages that describe each of the services you offer, and so on.
Knowing how you want to structure the site will help you to design more effectively. The site will flow better, and navigation will be more logical. This is very important since your visitors will need to be able to move through the site without much effort.
6. Navigation
Navigation is one of the most important aspects of design. First of all, navigation menus are often focal points of a design that give a page a more attractive visual appearance. More importantly, the functionality of the navigation will impact each one of your visitors. In the previous step you figured out the basic structure of your website. The navigation on each page should link to all of your primary, or most important, pages. Secondary pages will probably be linked from the appropriate primary pages.
7. Photos and Images
When you planned a basic layout you probably left some space for images and graphics. Finding the right picture is another important part of the design. If you’re on a tight budget there are several places where you can find free stock photography. If you’re willing to spend a few dollars, you can easily find high quality photos for very low prices. See our post on Stock Photography Resources.
You now have a good portion of the work done, and best of all, it’s been done in an organized and strategic process. With this type of approach you’ll spend less time making changes and fixing problems. If you have an existing website you may also want to do some analytical work during the process. Google Analytics provides some useful information about your visitors that can be used when making some design decisions. For example, you can find out:
- What speed of internet connections your visitors are using (very helpful for determining how many photos, videos and extras you should include).
- What screen resolution they have (helpful for deciding on a width for your site).
- What browser they’re using (you need to make sure your site works in at least the most commonly used browsers).
If you have an idea or a project that you’ve been thinking about, now it’s time to take some action and start planning. Good luck.
