Looking to get into web design?
Good for you, ambitious creative!
Bringing a website to life is more than just technical work, it’s a creative journey that brings your ideas to life and, done right, provides a great experience to all of the visitors who see it!
So, whether you’re a graphic designer looking to expand your skill set, a freelancer wanting to add “web designer” to the hats they already wear, or just a creative person looking for a new challenge, understanding the web design process is the secret sauce to your success.
Which is why today’s blog is filling you in! Today, we’re running you through the essentials of the web design process, including all of the steps it takes to get from great idea to fully functioning website!
The Goals of Good Web Design
Before you start, let’s talk about what your website needs to achieve in order to be successful.
Good web design MUST have the following:
- User Experience (UX) – Users must easily be able to find what they’re looking for. A good website provides seamless navigation and is also accessible to people with disabilities, so everyone can use it. It’s also essential that the website is responsive so that it performs well on all devices and screen sizes. You should also optimize the website so that it reduces load times to create a fast and efficient user experience.
- Aesthetics – A good website has a visually pleasing design that captures the user's attention. It should maintain brand consistency by using colors, fonts, and imagery that reflect the brand’s identity. The design should also apply principles to create a visually balanced layout that exudes balance and harmony.
- Functionality – A well-designed website engages its visitors with interactive elements. All features and functions should be easy to use and intuitive so that users can easily perform any function they wish.
- Content Presentation – Any content on your website should be engaging and valuable and be presented clearly and concisely using appropriate typography for ultimate clarity and readability. Your website should also structure content to be search engine-friendly to improve visibility through SEO optimization.
- Conversion Optimization – A website should guide users towards desired actions like signing up, purchasing, or contacting with clear calls to action (CTAs). The design should create pathways that lead users toward conversion goals, creating an effective user journey. Building trust and credibility with testimonials, reviews, and secure elements is also important.
- Purpose Alignment – The design should not only look great but align with your business goals so that it effectively does its job. The design should meet the needs and preferences of your target audience to create a more personalized experience and support the overall content strategy and messaging.
- Analytics and Feedback – Implement tools to track user behavior and gather valuable data for analysis and then use that feedback and analytics to solve problems that come up and to make continuous improvements.
Your Guide to the Website Design Process
Each phase of the web design workflow is crucial, from the initial planning to the launch, and understanding and executing each step properly and thoughtfully will give you a website that not only looks great but is user-friendly and helps you achieve your goals!
Let’s break down the process now:
Step 1: Planning and User Research
Before starting any web design project, it’s crucial to do your homework to gather up the necessary information for the design decisions you’ll have to make.
You’ll want to start by clearly defining your goals to understand what it is you want to achieve with your website design. Is it for a client? Is it your personal website that acts as your portfolio and will help you with your freelance career?
Whatever it is, determine who the target users will be (whether they’re yours or your client's) and do some user research to find out to get a better grasp on what it is that they’ll need from this website. It also helps to look at your client’s competitors or other freelancers’ websites to see the strengths and weaknesses to give you some insight into your own design.
Step 2: Choosing Your Tools
Selecting the right tools is extremely important for any effective UI/UX design process.
To get you started, here is a list of some commonly used and highly recommended tools, separated by use, to help you along on your web design journey:
Content Management Systems (CMS)
- WordPress — A very popular and flexible CMS, WordPress is great for a wide range of websites from blogs to eCommerce.
- Webflow — Combines CMS and design tools, allowing for powerful, visually-driven website creation without needing to be an expert in coding.
- Joomla — Suitable for more complex websites with extensive content management needs.
- Drupal — Known for its versatility and scalability, this tool is ideal for large-scale and complex websites.
Design Software
- Adobe XD — Adobe XD is a powerful tool for designing and prototyping user experiences for web and mobile apps.
- Figma — Figma is a collaborative interface design tool that allows multiple designers to work simultaneously on the same project.
- Sketch — Sketch is a vector graphics editor primarily used for UI/UX design, known for its ease of use and powerful plugins.
- InVision — InVision offers prototyping and collaboration features, allowing you to create interactive mockups and gather feedback.
Development Tools
- Visual Studio Code — A lightweight but powerful source code editor with built-in support for JavaScript, TypeScript, and Node.js, along with a huge library of extensions.
- Sublime Text — A sophisticated text editor for code, markup, and prose with a wide array of plugins and customization options.
- GitHub — GitHub is a platform for version control and collaboration, allowing you to manage and share your code with others.
- CodePen — An online community for testing and showcasing user-created HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code snippets.
Project Management Tools
- Trello — A visual tool for organizing your projects and tasks into boards, helping you keep track of your workflow.
- Asana — Asana is a comprehensive project management tool that allows you to track work, manage projects, and collaborate with your team.
- Jira — A tool designed to help teams plan, track, and release software efficiently.
- Miro — Miro is a popular project management tool that helps you visually organize your projects in boards, collaborate with teammates, and keep track of your workflow.
Step 3: Wireframes
Once you’ve chosen the right tools for you and your workflow, the next step will be to create wireframes.
If you’ve never heard the term before, wireframes are like a sketch of a website, much like you’d sketch out ideas for a drawing or design. Wireframes are for outlining the basic structure of each page of your website, including the placement of content elements like headers, images, text, and buttons.
Using the tool of your choice, sketch out the basic layout of each web page, paying close attention to how your users will be navigating through the site. Your wireframe should, above all else, prioritize usability and make it easy for your visitors to find what they’re looking for.
Step 4: Visual Design Principles and Best Practices
Now that you’ve got your website laid out the way you want it, next comes our favorite part: the design phase!
Here are some design principles and best practices to get you started:
- Layouts— Design layouts that are clean, balanced, and visually appealing. Avoid over cluttering anything and make sure that the placement of elements is logical and intuitive for your users.
- Typography— Choose fonts that are readable and reflect either your or your client’s brand identity. Whatever fonts you choose, keep them consistent for a more cohesive look.
- Imagery— Select high-quality images and graphics that enhance the design, not distract from it. Make sure the images are relevant to the content as well.
- Color Schemes— Use a color scheme that aligns with the brand. Remember that colors can be used strategically to draw attention to important elements and create visual harmony.
- Accessibility— Make sure your design is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Use appropriate color contrasts, alt text for images, and keyboard-friendly navigation.
- Visual Hierarchy— Establish a clear visual hierarchy to help guide users through the content. Use size, color, and placement to indicate the importance of different elements.
- Consistency— Maintain consistency in design elements across all pages. This includes colors, fonts, button styles, and other UI components.
- Whitespace— Sometimes, less is more! Use whitespace to create a clean and uncluttered look. Whitespace also helps improve readability and allows your most important elements to stand out.
- Interactive Elements— Incorporate interactive elements like buttons, links, and forms into your design and make sure that are easy to use.
- Brand Identity— Keep all of your design reflecting the brand’s identity and values by using elements like logos, taglines, and color schemes.
Step 5: Preparing for Development
With your layout and design finalized, the next step is to prepare your design to be handed off to a developer.
This step involves organizing and documenting all of your design elements and instructions so that the development process runs smoothly, and your vision can be turned into a fully functional website.
Here is what you’ll have to do to set your developer up for success:
- Create Detailed Mockups— Make sure your design mockups are complete and detailed. Use tools like Adobe XD, Figma, or Sketch to create high-fidelity mockups that include all design elements that will be used, like buttons, forms, and images, in their final positions and styles.
- Organize Design Files— Organize all of your design files, including images, icons, fonts, and other assets, in a user-friendly way that won’t be confusing to your developer. Be sure to use descriptive file names and create folders to group related assets together.
- Include Design Specifications— Provide the developer with detailed design specifications for each element the website is going to use, including dimensions, colors, fonts, spacing, and any other relevant properties. Design tools often have built-in features to generate these specs automatically for your convenience.
- Describe Interactions— Leave notes in your mockups to describe how any interactive elements should behave. This includes hover states, click actions, animations, and transitions. Make sure your notes are clear and easy to understand.
- Prepare Style Guide— Create a style guide that outlines the visual style of the site. This should include color palettes, typography rules, button styles, and any other design elements that need to be consistent.
- Provide Content— Gather up all of the content that will be included on the website, like text, images, and videos. Keep it organized in a way that the developer can easily integrate it into the website.
- Use a Design Handoff Tool— Use design handoff tools like Zeplin, InVision, or Figma’s handoff features to streamline the process and make everything easier. These tools allow designers to share their work with developers in a format that includes all necessary specifications and assets.
- Communicate Clearly— If possible, set up a meeting with the developer to walk through the design and explain any tricky elements. This will keep everyone on the same page and can address any questions or concerns before development begins.
Step 6: User Testing
Once your website is built, the next step involves testing it with real users!
How involved you are in this stage of the design process may be up to the project you’re working on, but the last part of the web development stage is to put the site through usability checks, performance testing, and accessibility reviews before it goes live.
Whatever design issues or feedback is gathered, be sure to implement any necessary adjustments as needed to make sure your site’s user experience is the best that it can be!
Step 7: Launch Time!
After all checks are done and the design is finalized, then, congratulations! It’s time for launch!
Once your site is live, the design team’s job may be done or, if it’s your website, then be sure to keep an eye on it to monitor its performance and be ready to perform upkeep like fixing broken links, updating content, and making any design tweaks as necessary.
Regular updates and maintenance will keep your design fresh and your users happy!
Looking for an Outlet for Your Skills?
Are you already a web design expert?
Or perhaps a graphic design expert expanding your skillset?
If so, we have a suggestion to make:
Why not join the Designity community?
The Designity community is made up of the top 3% of all of the talented graphic designers, web designers, developers, copywriters, video experts, and more who apply each year and we’re always looking for fresh new talent to join our ranks.
As a Designity Creative, you’ll enjoy plenty of awesome perks, like:
- Competitive pay
- Setting your own hours
- A 100% remote work environment
- Consistent workload with a variety of different clients
- The chance to learn from the best and grow in your creative career
So, what do you say? If that sounds like the gig for you, then why not put your skills to the test and get started with our one-of-a-kind application process?
We can’t wait to see what you can do!
