Web Design Tips by Mathias Gelment
For approximately the last eight years I have been doing web design work for various companies organizations people non profits. Through the years I ve learned many lessons have become better by analyzing my past work determining areas where I can improve not only my designs but also my interactions with clients. What I d like to share with you today are a few best practices that I learned the hard way. Hopefully by you reading these you will be cognizant of them thus not have to learn them the hard way.
My absolute best practice which I highly recommend to every designer is to ask the client to provide you with a document that displays a few of their favorite web sites. Underneath each URL ask them to provide a paragraph or two of why they like the site so much. Tell them to be as specific as possible. Also have them include any bits about the site that they actually don t like. This document will help you greatly in crafting your design for the client. By receiving this you are getting a glimpse at the client s tastes; you re seeing exactly what they like can tailor your design to what they like.
Just as I capture their favorite websites in the same niche I also have them provide in the same document a list of the other sites in the same niche that they do not like. This does the opposite for me it lets me know the design elements that they do not like. Again they provide a paragraph or two about why they do not like those sites. These documents are so valuable because even before you have started to design you already know of some of the things that the client really likes that the client really does not like.
My final best practice focuses on the navigation. The navigation is critical for the web site. If your client has put together a navigation layout be sure you thoroughly review it understand it. You ll have likely done many more web sites than they have you can provide tips information on how to better organize their content. Once you have done this you can help them lock down the navigation. Locking down the navigation helps you because you can then determine how to best layout the website. This helps to determine whether you want to implement a left side navigation right side navigation or navigation that runs across the top.
These are just a few tips for you to think about. They certainly are not things that I was thinking about when I first started out as a designer. Now they are some of the first things that I think about talk to the client about. These few simple things have drastically reduced the number of revisions I ve had to do because I already have a good idea of the client s likes dislikes.
Virginia SEO mangoco. com experts Mangoco can take your idea to the next level by building you a fantastic website Web Design Tips
