custom business website designs
A custom business website displays company information and a brand identity. This is based upon research and design for the identified user market. Custom website design involves graphic design skills for the design and internet copywriting skills for the content.
It is important at the outset to decide the target audience that the website is aimed at. This will dictate both the overall website design and individual elements within it. As a freelance website designer I generally believe in the following design principles for business websites:
1. That the design of the website should be dictated by the intended users of the site. The point of a custom business website design is that it can be fully orientated to the intended market or audience. A fabulous Java script behavior can look wonderful, but can easily create frustration if it stands in the way of information delivery for the intended audience. Design is to serve purpose and the purpose is to connect with the perceived visitor profile.
2. The aesthetics of the design should ideally serve and harmonize with the site content. Design style should therefore emerge from content and perceived audience demographics. The content and manner of delivery should dictate any style that emerges in the customized website's development.
3. Clear navigation. Prospective clients can find the information they are looking for easily and without frustration. Many websites have 'interesting' navigation however I believe the purpose of navigation is to find your way around the site quickly and efficiently.
4. Uncluttered. Built without unnecessary distractions and overly busy design. Sites are designed primarily for the consumer rather than to display site design virtuosity. The overarching principles have to be accessibility and usability. There is additionally a trend towards minimalism in web designs.
5. Visually appealing. As a website designer I am conscious of the need to produce customized website designs that are easy on the eye.
6. A website design which will be able to accommodate further growth at a later stage. Websites have a tendency to grow over the years, as more products and services become available or the business changes.
custom business website design elements:
1. The page layout. (Where the navigation is, where the text and photos go and where the logo or header banner might be).
2. The typography.
3. The colour scheme.
4. Graphics design, the production of visuals for the logo, header banners, navigation buttons and the like.
5. An overall design which has identified the target market and accommodates itself to working for that target market and is in harmony with the proposed content of the site.