The internet is a visual medium, with the right, or wrong impression being communicated in the first few seconds. Successful web design begins with your audience. What are their needs, their expectations and their background? The process of translating the answers to these questions may not be straightforward but, if done well, it will help you create a successful design.

Your website design has an important role to play. Even the best content can be undermined by an unattractive layout. A good combination of colour, shape, and balance will not only convey your brand, but can also go a long way toward steering your visitors through to the sales conversion process. So how do you achieve a winning web design?

Begin with a Design Blueprint
The web design process has its fair share of challenges, quite often pitting the site owner's wishes against the web designer's better judgement. To avoid potential confrontations, it is often useful to hold a meeting in order to discuss the client's design expectations, and for feedback to be given by the designer in regard to best practice guidelines.

The initial design-blueprint meeting can cover such things as the client's business objectives and how they translate to the web, a review of some inspirational sites (as selected by both parties), identifying the target audience and discussing how existing branding can be successfully incorporated.

From Blueprint to Business Website
Once armed with the relevant information, the designer can start preparing imagery in the shape of mood boards, wireframing and, ultimately, a round of draft designs. Each is an important part of the process:

• Wireframing consists of providing rough illustrations of page layouts, menu navigation hierarchy and content presentation
• Draft designs bring the previous steps together and allow the client and, if possible, the target audience to provide constructive feedback.

The designer's input should not be ignored in any of these stages, as their objectivity and expert advice will help you avoid potential design pitfalls.

What Makes a Great Website Design
After all is said and done, website design is subjective, but key design elements have been proven over time not only to give the right first impression, but also to provide a consistent and productive user experience. Here are a few guidelines, to help get your creative juices flowing:

• Make it easy to understand what your website is about and what to do next
• Use images to attract attention and share a message
• Use headlines and sub-headlines to break up your copy
• Limit the amount of copy on your home page
• Keep your logo and colours consistent throughout the site
• Provide a newsletter subscription form one click away, or even as part of the main design
• Make it obvious how to proceed farther into the website
• Make it just as obvious how to make a purchase
• Limit the width of your paragraphs for ease of reading
• Don't be afraid to keep things simple – an uncluttered design is often more focussed
• On a similar note, use white space liberally to segment your content
• Include web 2.0 features, such as your RSS feed or social media links

While it might be tempting to pull out all the stops to achieve the 'wow factor', keep in mind that the most important design factors should be your business goals and website objectives. If you would like to review the effectiveness of your website design, contact us.