Design

Design principles and practices, User interaction, Navigation, Content organization., Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Javascript, Images...

Form (usually) follows function

On the web, a beautiful design is not enough. Over-designed websites can impede and even irritate visitors. For example, although animated splash pages look ‘cool’, they become an unnecessary delay for repeat visitors and can prevent some visitors from being able to access your site at all. Visitors come to a site primarily for the information, not the design.

Therefore, the design should follow the function by helping visitors find what they seek as quickly as possible. In general, it is best to stick to industry-standards and clean, clear design features.

Point of view

Design your site from the visitor’s point of view, not your own. Carefully consider why a visitor would take the time to view your site in the first place, and then label your navigation links and titles accordingly. For example, people rarely perform Web searches for such phrases as, “About Us”, “Contact Us”, “Our Services”, or “Our Products.”

Because the title is one of the most important elements for attracting site visitors, give each view a compelling title. Such titles increase the likelihood of your site achieving a higher ranking in search engines. The most effective titles include an enticing summary of the content.

Some example titles

• CommunityGrove: Ten steps to a successful website
• Hanzell Winery: How to choose a high quality wine
• Credo High School: The benefits of a Waldorf-inspired education

The first impression may be the last

To attract deep interest, well designed sites require more than a pretty face. They also require clear, logical navigation that provides clear directions to deeper content, and avoids all blind alleys and dead ends.

Bounce rates

The majority of website visitors browse no further than the first page they see on a site. This behaviour is referred to as the bounce rate. The higher the bounce rate, the less ‘sticky’ the site.

Bounce rates are notoriously difficult to evaluate. A site that does a great job of displaying important content on a single page may appear to have a high bounce rate—often above 80%—when in fact it is working very well.

The home page is dead. Long live the home page.

Because search engines can send visitors to any view (or page) pf your site, the concept of a Home Page is not as important as it once was. Any view is potentially the first, last, and only view a visitors will see. From a site architectural perspective, every page is a "Home Page."

Some questions to consider for each view:

•  Is the purpose instantly clear?
• Are there navigation elements at the top and bottom that lead visitors deeper into the site?
• Are there navigation elements to related information, such as the next logical view on the site?

More than a pretty picture

Today’s websites should be dynamic, ever-changing, ever-fresh. To achieve this, the underlying functions are as important as the visible design.

Powerful access control, easy text and image editing, strong revision control, multiple themes, integration with email campaigns and social media sites, SAAS integration (GoogleApps, Amazon, PayPal, etc.), automated search engine optimisation (SEO), and flexible internationalisation, real time performance and security monitoring, spam filtering, traffic analysis, and notifications must all be considered in a complete design.

We combine interactive design with intelligent technology to balance the many overlapping requirements of a modern website.

Our design services include

• Organisational identity development
• Search engine optimisation (SEO)
• User interface and site navigation architecture
• Drupal theme development
• Photo and image editing
• JavaScript and jQuery development
• Flash animation
• CSS-based and tableless
• W3C standards compliant
• Multi-output optimisation (HTML, Print and PDF, Mobile, RSS, XML, CSV, SQL, etc.)

Getting started

Let us lower your bounce rate and improve visitor loyalty with a web design that delivers. We combine interactive design with intelligent technology to balance the many overlapping requirements of a modern website. Get started today!