Web Design, Digital & Social Media Marketing in Singapore

3 important things every web designer needs to know before designing a website

// January 26th, 2010 // Web Design

When designing websites for clients, web designers should always remember that they are not creating digital brochures. They are creating an interface where users interact with contents and eventually do something that the website owner wants them to do (be it an online sale, refer a friend, bookmark the website, etc). Here are 3 important things that web designers should know before firing up their photoshop and dreamweaver.

1. Know who are the target audiences

Don’t guess.  Don’t assume. Ask your client and they will probably start telling you ‘everyone’. It is our job to guide them on this. I will always ask my client – If anyone would be visiting your website, who will they be? Here, we are not trying to identify demographics like male/female, age group, etc. We are trying to identify specific groups of people. For example, if I’m trying to identify target audiences for a kindergarten website, it would be:

• Parents of potential students
• Parents of existing students
• Education partners
• Potential staff

2. Know what they want

Visitors come to your website with a specific purpose in mind. Seldom would people browse aimlessly, so you need to really know what they want. After establishing who the target audiences are, I will always ask my clients – If a parent of a potential student is to visit your website, what do you think will be their purpose in visiting your website? This question never fails to get my clients thinking the real purpose of the website – A place where their potential clients get what they want! To illustrate my point clearer, let’s see what the parents of potential and existing students of a kindergarten would want:-

• Parents of potential students want to evaluate if the kindergarten is suitable for his or her child. To do that, they will want to understand the curriculum, environment, enrichment courses, principal’s & teachers’ profile, testimonials from existing parents and enrollment details.
• Parents of existing students want to know upcoming events in the kindergarten, be updated on news and announcements, enquire on administrative matters  and to provide feedback.

3. Know what you want

Now that you know who they are, and their purpose of visiting the website, it is time to work on what your client wants from each visitor. It could be as simple as email enquiry, downloading of a factsheet, visiting the facebook fanpage or even referring the website to a friend. Help the client map out the website goals so you know the objectives of each webpage that you will be creating.

Honestly, this is just the beginning and I usually spend 1-2 sessions with the client just working on these 3 things. It is also the findings during these sessions that allows me to gather sufficient knowledge and information to start working on the information architecture, which ultimately, determines the layout (which will somehow affect the overall design).

What’s your methodology in creating websites? Share them here!