DO I NEED A WEB DESIGNER?
Introduction:
A web designer helps craft the customer-facing experience of a website. Their job is to make the aesthetics visually appealing to the viewers while also ensuring functionality and accessibility. With all the website building tools available like Squarespace and Wix, many businesses are asking themselves, “why do I need a web designer?”.
After reading this article, you will understand the importance of choosing a web designer to lead your website building process.
Agenda:
Because Design Works!
Navigation & Functionality
Accessible To All
Escape The Template
Effective Support
Colors Create Feelings
Stay On Brand
Because Design Works!
Good design is appealing to the mind. If you can understand how the mind works, you can make it perceive things the way you want it to. A web designer knows how to create the reaction or response you want from a website visitor. Giving information to the user in the correct order and delivering it with appropriate visuals will ensure every visitor has a quality experience.
Navigation & Functionality:
“Great web design without functionality is like a sports car with no engine.”
– Paul Cookson
Even the best looking websites can struggle closing with potential customers. How can that be? It is because they create the website with the brand in mind, and not the visitor. Your website should be a guide to getting the user where they want to go.
Are visitors interested in learning more about your business? Make it easy to access. Is the user trying to compare you to competitors? Clearly list how you are different. Are your visitors looking to make a purchase? Insert a strong call to action. Designers can help curate the path for visitors at any point in the consumer journey.
“I remember when I was 11 looking around on websites. The biggest struggles were that there were some sites that had functionality but zero design, making it very hard to stay to read the information. Or there were sites that had the design portion but zero functionality. The place that is in the middle, where sites have both functionality and design, is where they need to be.”
– Alice Buswell, Creative Lead at Stellar Blue Technologies
Accessible To All:
The internet is a place for inclusion. Open your website to welcome the greatest amount of visitors possible. With the current web environment, there is no shortage of ways to make sure that users with disabilities of any kind can engage with your web property. If your website is not interactive for the user, they will find another that suits their needs. Do not turn away potential customers, or even worse damage your reputation as an inclusive company.
Not only are there a wide variety of user needs, but now each device has particular needs as well. Different operating systems are providing countless ways to browse the internet like tablets, phones and more recently vehicles and appliances like your refrigerator.
According to DBS Interactive, about 41% of adults use Voice search daily through products like Amazon Alexa and Apple’s Siri. How can you create a similar experience between all these different versions of your website? How will you accommodate new ways to access your website for future devices that don’t exist yet?
Escape The Template:
Hiring a designer can help you create custom elements that separate your website from the competition. Using pre-built templates like the ones on Wix, Squarespace and Shopify can dull down your exciting products and services. Your website deserves the special treatment that you crafted your business with. Why limit yourself to the tools everyone else has? Learn more about how Stellar Blue Technologies can impact your web design here.
(Also, you sacrifice your website ownership while building on proprietary platforms like Wix. These platforms will not allow you to transfer the site to another building or hosting service).
Don’t build your content house on rented land.
— Joe Pulizzi I joepulizzi.eth (@JoePulizzi) August 20, 2021
Effective Support:
A designer knows how your website works. If you’d like to make a change or solve a problem with your site, a designer can make edits and test them effectively. The web is always changing, and the transition to Web 3.0 is upon us. The internet will be able to support different types of websites and front-facing applications in the future. Working with a designer will make sure you can take advantage of the newest elements on the web.
With the money saved by building your website on your own, the time used to troubleshoot issues can outweigh these savings.
Colors Create Feelings:
“Design is Thinking Made Visual”
– Saul Bass
Ever wonder why lots of restaurants are red and yellow, tech companies use blue and silver, or high-fashion brands use black and white? The psychology behind color is proven to work, but it is not entirely obvious until you look for it. A web designer will help curate your color palette and elicit the appropriate feelings upon your website visitors.
According to Hubspot, red and yellow are used to elicit an exciting and engaging response, perfect for restaurants to catch your attention while you might be searching for a bite to eat. Blue and silver are recognized as reliable, similar to the technology you buy from them. Black and white demonstrate both elegance and class and customers will perceive these products as such.
Stay On Brand:
Every page on your website should stay on brand, which is easier said than done. Planning out future content, service and product pages can be difficult without a strong and flexible web design that can be scaled to prospective pages. This will save you time in the long-term because you assure that your brand appearance comes first.
Conclusion:
Your digital presence is your business presence in today’s online world. These work together on visitor impressions, without one you will not have the other. Web design is not a matter to be taken lightly because of its influence on the consumer experience. Ensure you will reach your maximum potential for all users by working with our design team at Stellar Blue Technologies.
Schedule a chat with us below to discuss what we can offer to your online presence!