Building a website and cultivating an online presence is essential for both professional and personal purposes. Without a website, it can feel increasingly difficult to reach out to prospective clients or customers, whether you are running a business or working as a freelancer. Understanding the importance of good web design is essential for anyone who is interested in establishing themselves online today.
What is Web Design?
Web design is the process of brainstorming, conceptualizing, and developing a plan for an online presence, page, or website online. Web design itself is more than just selecting a logo and a suitable color scheme for a website, and goes far beyond choosing simple templates.
What Are the Job Responsibilities of a Web Designer?
As a web designer, you will be responsible not only for conceptualizing and planning layouts or themes for websites but also for integrating a wide range of visual elements to help better represent the website’s brand or business.
Web designers are typically responsible for the following tasks:
- Brainstorming and conceptualizing design plans
- Researching and staying updated with the latest trends in design
- Creating wireframes, sketches, storyboards, and sitemaps for conceptual ideas and designs
- Present ideas in a way that is relevant to clients and customers
In addition to developing designs, web designers may also be required to conduct research on specific demographics and target audiences, depending on the type of website being designed and built.
What is the Thinking Process of a Web Designer?
A web designer who is well-versed in the process will likely first evaluate the client they are working for as well as the demographics and the target audience the client intends to reach. Understanding a specific audience that is the target of a website or project is one of the most fundamental aspects of working as a successful web designer.
Web designers will then begin to brainstorm logos, color schemes, themes, aesthetics, fonts, and various layout types that are most likely to resonate with the target audience based on the type of website needed.
For example, a website being built for a local non-profit will likely appear more friendly, colorful, and welcoming than a website designed for corporate loan sharks or hedge fund managers.
Web designers will take current logos and company aesthetics into consideration along with any special requests from clients in mind when developing a plan of action. Once the web designer is satisfied, they will present their idea for a design using storyboards and wireframes to the client directly.
What Are Some of the Most Common Elements Involved in Web Design?
Web design is more than crafting colorful themes and creating basic HTML code. Web design requires an understanding of color theory, white space, and responsive design, especially when programming for smartphones or mobile devices. Some elements involved in web design that are not often thought of by those unfamiliar with the profession include:
- Typography: Choosing the right fonts can make or break a website’s design.
- Copy: Content is still king when it comes to building a successful online presence. Blog material and quality content go a long way.
- White space: White space matters, and can help to establish a professional appearance online as opposed to a cluttered or outdated one.
- Colors: Selecting the right colors is essential, which is why color theory is so important for web designers.
As the web and social media have become increasingly commonplace around the globe, the web design profession is following suit. Learning about web design can help with developing any type of website or online presence you have in mind for yourself or even for your own business venture.
