It’s no longer enough to just have a website. It also has to be well designed, engaging for the user, and represent the business in the best possible way. It should create emotion and get people to act. This is not just a design job – it is a leadership responsibility.
Below you’ll find tips on how to create web design that stands out from the crowd. But first, we’ll go through the basics.
Basic elements of website design
When you create a website, there are some basic things that always have to be in place. We’re not going to go into deep detail here, but we will point out a few elements you should always make sure are in place.
- Responsive design
As a rule, at least half of the traffic to a website comes from mobile. That means the website must adapt to the device it’s viewed on, and it must look good on all screen sizes. This is what makes sure the user gets an optimal experience no matter if they’re visiting from a phone, tablet, or PC.
- Navigation structure
The website must have clear and easy-to-understand navigation, so that users can easily find what they’re looking for. This applies whether they land on the front page or somewhere deep in the structure.
- Usability
Usability is everything from fast loading times to clear, easy-to-understand messages. The rule of thumb is simple: the harder something is to use, the less it’s used. That sounds obvious, but it’s also one of the hardest things to get 100% right.
- Consistent design style
A consistent style and colour palette creates a feeling of safety. Good web design also builds your brand. If you use design elements that are confusing or inconsistent, you lose people quickly. They leave.
- Search engine friendliness
Google and other search engines must be able to find, understand, and index your pages. If not, Google cannot show your pages to its users. This is why you have to be careful with certain technologies (for example heavy JavaScript, Flash, too many iframes). If search engines can’t read your content properly, you won’t be visible.
How to get a website design with that little something extra
To really stand out from the crowd and create a website that captures attention, you have to go a few steps further. And those steps should actually be taken before you even start thinking about website design.
This is the part most people skip.
Brand strategy is the foundation of good web design
Brand strategy is the starting point. This is where you work out the real “gold” and connect all marketing work to the company’s strategy. It’s during this strategy work that you build culture and a common understanding of what you’re trying to achieve.
A good, culture-building strategy process gives the whole organisation direction and makes all later communication work much easier. That includes web design and website development.
You can read more about brand strategy here, but we’ll highlight a few points that are especially important if you want your website design to have that little bit extra:
- Insight work
If you want to create something that triggers emotion and action in customers and users, you have to understand what drives them and what problems they want to solve. It’s in that work that you find what can actually separate your brand from the competition.
In other words: without insight, you’re guessing. With insight, you can design for what matters.
- Goal setting
“What gets measured, gets done.”
It’s easier to reach something when you know where you’re going and how to tell when you’ve arrived. Good goal setting at brand level will also make sure you create a website that is actually moving the business in the right direction (not just “looks nice”).
So: strategy first, goals second, website after that. In that order.
From strategy to something you can actually use brand identity
Strategy on its own sits too high up. You have to bring it down to earth so people can use it in everyday work. This is where brand identity comes in.
Brand identity is about things like colours, typography, tone of voice, icons, and graphic style. These are concrete choices. “This is how it should look with us.”
Often this means creating what we call a design system.
A design system is a template / library that makes it easy for everyone in the business to create marketing material — and website design — that is consistent and recognisable.
Why this matters:
- It makes people feel confident in you as the sender (“Yes, this looks like them”).
- It cuts down on time-wasting back-and-forth about layout and colour.
- It protects the brand, because people stop making their own version of it.
So, you’re not only doing this for looks. You’re doing it to save time, build trust, and keep control.
Concept, user experience and creativity
“Don’t Make Me Think.”
“Keep it Simple.”
A core principle in web design is that you should make it as easy as possible for people to do what they came to the website to do. Simplicity can create good feelings.
But: if you want lifetime value and you want to build a brand, the website also has to be memorable. It has to create emotion.
That gives us a problem:
How do we keep it simple and at the same time be creative?
Here’s how.
The insights from your brand strategy and identity work will help give direction to your creativity. But you still need a strong concept.
This is the part where you decide:
- What problems the website should solve.
- How the website will solve them.
- What the user should feel.
This is where the truly exciting websites find their magic.
Many teams skip this phase because they’re eager to “start building”. Do not make that mistake. Set aside time for the right people to sit together and work out proper concepts.
And remember: the best ideas are not usually created in one creative head. They’re created between creative heads (and non-creative heads). The space between disciplines is where the real idea shows up.
Some creative techniques you can use
These are practical methods to get to actual ideas – not just nice words.
- Brainstorming
Get a group of different people in a room and let them throw out all ideas around a topic. At this stage you do not reject or criticise anything. The goal is to get as many ideas as possible in a short time. Later you sort them and develop the best ones.
Why it matters: volume first, filtering later.
- Design thinking
A method that is built around insight and empathy for user needs. The process is:
- Understand the user’s needs.
- Define the problem clearly.
- Generate ideas.
- Prototype.
- Test.
- Iterate.
Why it matters: you design for real needs, not internal opinion.
- Mind mapping
This is used to organise and structure thoughts and ideas. You start with a main topic and then build branches that connect ideas and concepts. This is very helpful when creative people need to link their ideas back to the overall strategy (instead of drifting off into “cool for the sake of cool”).
- Mood board
A mood board is a visual reference: images, colours, typography, textures, tone. It helps define the style or feeling of a design project. It also gives the team a shared visual direction before you spend hours building high-fidelity designs.
Mood boards are used a lot in brand identity work, but they’re also useful later in web design to keep everyone on the same page.
- SCAMPER
SCAMPER stands for:
- Substitute
- Combine
- Adapt
- Modify
- Put to other uses
- Eliminate
- Reverse
Most ideas don’t appear out of nowhere. They’re born by taking an existing idea and pushing it, bending it, or turning it upside down. SCAMPER is a tool to force that thinking and look at the same challenge from different angles.
Inspiration for good design
Good clients often produce good work (yes, a little bragging). So, we think you should have a look at our projects.
But of course, there are many others doing interesting things you can get inspiration from. Here are some resources we like to use:
- Awwwards ( https://www.awwwards.com/ – Awwwards highlights and celebrates websites with strong creative design. You’ll find a lot of inspiration across different industries and styles.
- Behance ( https://www.behance.net/ ) – A platform for designers, illustrators, photographers and more. You can explore real projects and full case studies.
- Designspiration ( https://www.designspiration.com/ ) – A collection of visual ideas and design references from different sources and genres.
- SiteInspire ( https://www.siteinspire.com/ ) – SiteInspire showcases strong web and interactive design and shows different ways visuals can be used on the web.
These are good for inspiration. Use them to learn, not to copy.
Ask us about web design
If you need help creating good, engaging websites, we’re happy to help — as long as you’re willing to take the work seriously and give your customers and your organisation something they can be proud of.
Our strength is simplifying, highlighting and respecting what is unique.
Send us an email at info@bigwebmedia.co.za or call us on 087 820 7175.
