HOW TO WEB DESIGN YOUR SITE?

The importance of web design for a brand

To be efficient both technically and in marketing, a website must have a web design worked out in every detail.For the user, web design will build trust and greatly influence their satisfaction and behavior: this is the user experience (or UX Design ), a set of emotions that the Internet user will feel when browsing a website.It is important to bring out positive emotions, because emotions dictate the behavior and all the decisions of the Internet user. This is an achievable stake only if the expectations and psychology of the Internet user are taken into account.

But the user experience also helps to optimize the technical performance of a website, which has a strong influence on its positioning in search engines.Thus, web design improves the user experience which itself improves the performance of the web design. The following internet figures prove it:

• A bad user experience costs around 68% of its traffic to a website.
• 44% of Internet users share this bad experience with those around them.
• A support function can increase the conversion rate of a website by 54% .
• A site that incorporates a UX design strategy improves sales by 30% and reduces the bounce rate by 50% .
  

The choice of CMS

In order to create a web design, you must first choose your web hosting and choose your CMS .

A CMS (abbreviation of "Content Management System") is a computer program that allows content management to create a website according to pre-configured models and graphic universes.

A CMS provides several advantages: it is used to create a website without necessarily mastering the HTML code and saves valuable web development time.

There are many CMS, some are dedicated to the creation of e-commerce sites and others to the creation of showcase sites. Among the most famous CMS, we find:

the CMS HubSpot ,

1. WordPress,
2. Joomla,
3. Prestashop,
4. Drupal.

However, an already existing website can be migrated to a new CMS  for reasons of practicality and technicality.The choice of CMS should not be taken lightly: it must correspond to the future activity of the website (if it is a showcase site or an e-commerce store), the budget and the skill level of the people who will manage it on a daily basis.

How to design a website?

The construction of the web design of a website must be organized so that all the technical and creative elements are used in the right direction. Thus, to build your web design you will have to define your style, be consistent, not overload your pages, facilitate navigation, organize a visual hierarchy and configure an adaptive design.

Define a style

The style of a web design is reflected in several graphic and technical elements. Defining it is extremely important because it both conveys the brand image of the site and builds a positive user experience.

Here are the elements that must be taken into account to define the style of the web design of its website.  

Create a logo

The logo is an essential element in web design: it makes it possible to develop a graphic charter and therefore, to create a coherent, unique and recognizable visual identity.Although it is strongly recommended that you hire a graphic designer, it is possible to create a professional - quality logo yourself with online web design software.These online web design software are intuitive and accessible to everyone. No graphic design skills are necessary to take them in hand thanks to their "drag and drop" interface.

Here are 5 online web design software that make it easy to create a professional-looking logo:

• Canva ;
• Hipster Logo Generator ;
• Logaster ;
• Logaster  ;
• Graphic Springs .

Find the right illustrations

The illustrations make it easier to understand the text content and illustrate it. Like the logo, they must correspond to the graphic charter and be of professional quality, because they also testify to the brand image of the website.

For illustrations, you will have to look for the photographs and pictograms to use.

Photographs are used just as well to dress the header banners of a site as to energize the text content of the pages. As for pictograms, they are schematized graphic representations that serve to symbolize an idea or an action.Obtaining these graphic elements will be possible either by calling on professional photographers and graphic web design or by using a royalty-free image bank .

Royalty-free image banks provide free or low-cost access to professional-quality photographs and pictograms.

Here are 3 platforms to consult for professional quality photographs and illustrations:

• Unsplash ;
• Pixabay  ;
• Incones8 .

Here are 4 platforms to consult to download free professional quality pictograms:

• Flaticon ;
• Icon Icons ;
• Freepik ;

The Noun Project .

Be consistent

The consistency of a web design is essential: it allows the Internet user to understand the site he is visiting and how to navigate on it. It is therefore a necessity for the user experience. The coherence of web design has another stake: it must correspond both to the image of the brand and to its targets. It is therefore important to orient the choice of colors, typographies and illustrations in this direction so that users can identify with the brand and take pleasure in viewing its website.

Do not overload its pages

Still in a concept of user experience and for the sake of consistency, it is important not to overload the pages of a website: only one topic should be dealt with per page.To avoid overloading the pages, it is useful to harmonize their structure like this:

• A header that identifies the theme of the page.
• A body part whose text content is structured by titles and paragraphs.
• A CTA button (for example "contact us").

Keep in mind that if the Internet user does not quickly identify the information he is looking for, he will leave the site in record time.

Facilitate navigation

As with page overload, too complicated navigation will scare Internet users away. Too complicated navigation can also penalize the natural referencing of the website. It is therefore necessary to facilitate it as much as possible.

For this, it may be relevant to retrace the possible routes that users can take and to use a step-by-step approach. This approach will prioritize the content of the web design and organize it in a simple and logical way.

Organize a visual hierarchy

The visual hierarchy is one of the fundamental principles of web design: it facilitates the understanding of the website and captures the attention of the Internet user.In order to integrate a visual organization into the web design of a website, it is recommended:

• To use color codes.
• To use different typographies.
• To play on the size of the elements.
• To play on the size of the text.
• To play on the colonization of a page (or of a text).

Thus, the Internet user immediately identifies key information, important information and secondary information.

Configure a site for responsive design

The responsive design is a double challenge. First of all, it provides a better user experience for the Internet user since it maintains the readability and layout of the website, regardless of the screen size.

But adaptive design is also an issue for natural referencing. As it influences the satisfaction of the Internet user, it is now classified as one of the main criteria of search engines.

To configure a responsive design site you must:

Simplify the layout of the pages so that each element that constitutes them is considered as a block which stacks with the others.

Simplify the HTML code of the site using the HTML5 doctype and adhere to W3C standards.

Use the "meta viewport" tag which defines the dimensions of a web page according to the different screen sizes.

Use "media queries" which configure the different screen sizes (smartphone, tablet and computer).

Adapt the ergonomics of the website to mobile use by taking into account the clickable elements for touch screens and the overload of functionalities (online chat, pop-up).

Adapt the size of the images in automatic repackaging so that the display is adapted to the different screen sizes.

What web design tools to use?

• Color code to create harmonious color associations.
• Befunky to create and retouch visuals (photos and illustrations).
• Typecast to test the association of two typographies.
• Google Font to download free typographies.
• Balsamiq to create mockups and bookmarks.

Marvel App for creating prototypes of mobile applications.

These 6 web design software packages are intuitive and can be used by people with no web design skills. Other software like Photoshop and In Design are also useful but they are aimed at a more experienced audience.

How to find inspiration?

Finding graphic inspiration for your web design is not easy. However, inspiration can be found by visiting websites with innovative design or by following the news of the best web design blogs.

Examples of sites with innovative design

Web design trends change over the years, especially with the emergence of Growth Driven Design . It doesn't matter whether you want to create an e-commerce site or a showcase site, here are 7 sources of inspiration for a creative web design in 2020:

• The Kitelement e-commerce store .
• The user experience of Grand Tour de Suisse .
• The original navigation of Securinvest .
• The micro-interactions of Femme & Fierce .
• The interactive background of Year All Inclusive .
• The One Page site of the Café du Trocadero .
• Dot to Dot's monochromatic web design .

Web design blogs

Following specialized web design media such as blogs is a great way to stay on top of new trends and techniques. Here are 5 web design blogs to follow in 2020:

• The blog of the Muzli graphics platform .
• The essential French blog Graphism & Interactivity .
• LunaWeb's user experience blog .
• The Human First blog of the Youand agency to fill up with fresh ideas.
• The graphéine design and branding news blog .

This guide has just presented all the stages of implementation, the tools to use and how to find inspiration to create the web design of your website. However, it is important to mention a second time that the internet is a constantly evolving sector. It is necessary to regularly update this knowledge to ensure that the web design of its website always corresponds to the codes, technologies and algorithms in force.

Having a user-centered approach is also the key to successful web design. Thus, conducting user surveys also optimizes the user experience and the conversion rate.