Website Design

Before jumping into design, clarify your website's purpose, target audience, and key objectives. Understanding who will use your site and what they need to accomplish helps guide every design decision. Document your current challenges, desired outcomes, and success metrics. Tip: Create a simple one-page brief outlining your goals, audience, and must-have features to share with potential design partners.

Assess your site's performance against user needs and business goals. If users struggle to find information, conversion rates are dropping, or the design feels outdated, a redesign might be needed. Minor content updates or feature additions might suffice if the core structure works well. Tip: Run a simple user test with 5 people trying to complete key tasks on your current site to identify major pain points.

Most website projects take 8-12 weeks for small to medium sites, while larger or more complex sites can take 16-24 weeks. The timeline depends on project scope, content preparation, feedback cycles, and technical complexity. Rushed projects often result in compromised quality or missed requirements. Tip: Add 20% buffer time to any timeline estimate to account for revisions and unexpected challenges.

Identify key stakeholders, assign decision-makers, and establish clear approval processes. Gather existing brand materials, content, and any technical requirements. Set realistic expectations about time commitment needed from your team throughout the project. Tip: Designate one main point of contact to streamline communication and prevent conflicting feedback from multiple team members.

Organize your existing content, identify what needs writing, and prioritize your most important information. Consider user journeys and what content visitors need at each stage. Having content ready early prevents delays and ensures design decisions support your actual content needs. Tip: Create a content inventory spreadsheet listing all pages, their purpose, and current status to track preparation progress.

Custom design offers complete flexibility but requires higher investment and longer timelines. Templates provide faster, more affordable solutions but with limited customization. Consider your unique requirements, budget, and how much differentiation matters for your business positioning. Tip: List your specific functional requirements and visual needs first, then evaluate whether templates can meet 80% of them effectively.

Ask about their process, timeline, what they need from you, how they handle revisions, and what happens after launch. Request examples of similar projects and references from recent clients. Understand their approach to mobile design, accessibility, and ongoing support. Tip: Ask to see their actual work process documentation, not just portfolio pieces, to understand how they manage projects.

Experience Thinking starts with understanding your user's entire journey, not just individual pages. This means considering how people discover your site, what they need to accomplish, and how they feel throughout their interaction. The approach examines four connected areas: how people experience your brand, content, products, and services as one cohesive experience. Tip: Map out your user's complete journey from first awareness to becoming a loyal customer to identify all touchpoints your website needs to support.

We start by understanding your audience's goals, challenges, and current experience with your organization. Through research and stakeholder interviews, we identify gaps between intended and actual user experiences. The Experience Thinking framework helps ensure your website experience connects seamlessly with your overall brand promise and service delivery. Tip: Interview recent customers about their entire journey with your organization to uncover experience gaps your website could address.

Beautiful design that doesn't help users accomplish their goals creates frustration and abandonment. Experience design focuses on making interactions useful, findable, and satisfying. As Tedde van Gelderen explains in Experience Thinking, experiences need to deliver from start to finish because today's users expect cohesive journeys. Tip: Test your current website by trying to complete your most important user tasks yourself, noting every point of confusion or frustration.

We map the experience across all four areas of the Experience Thinking framework - brand, content, product, and service interactions. This ensures your website feels connected to your offline services, marketing materials, and customer support. Consistency builds trust and makes navigation intuitive for users. Tip: Create a simple style guide documenting your tone, visual elements, and key messages to maintain consistency across all touchpoints.

User experience focuses on how people interact with your website itself, while customer experience encompasses their entire relationship with your organization. Your website is one touchpoint in the broader customer journey. Using Experience Thinking principles, we design websites that strengthen the overall customer relationship, not just the digital interaction. Tip: Consider how website interactions can better prepare users for offline conversations with your team or smooth the transition between digital and human touchpoints.

We create user personas representing different audience segments and their specific goals. The Experience Thinking approach recognizes that people move through different roles - from curious prospects to active users to loyal clients. The website design accommodates these different mindsets and needs through flexible navigation and content strategies. Tip: Create simple user scenarios describing what different visitor types are trying to accomplish, then check that your website supports each scenario clearly.

We establish success metrics based on user behavior, task completion, and business outcomes. This includes both quantitative data like conversion rates and time on task, plus qualitative feedback about user satisfaction. The Experience Thinking lifecycle approach means measuring success beyond initial launch through ongoing user engagement and loyalty. Tip: Set up simple success metrics before launch, like 'users can find contact info in under 30 seconds' to have clear benchmarks for evaluation.

Our process starts with understanding your audience and their experience needs before creating any visual designs. We follow research, strategy, design, and testing phases, involving you at key decision points. This evidence-based approach reduces risk and ensures the final design supports your users' actual needs and behaviors. Tip: Ask your design partner to show you their process documentation and explain when you'll see initial concepts versus final designs.

You're involved throughout the process, from initial requirements through final approval. We value your business knowledge and brand insights while bringing user experience expertise to design decisions. The collaborative approach ensures the website reflects your vision while meeting user needs effectively. Tip: Establish clear roles early - you own business decisions and brand preferences, while designers guide user experience and technical choices.

Initial concepts are starting points for discussion, not final answers. We explore different directions and gather your feedback to refine the approach. Most projects include revision rounds built into the timeline and budget. Open communication about concerns helps us adjust direction early rather than later. Tip: Provide specific feedback about what isn't working rather than general preferences to help designers make targeted improvements.

We include defined revision rounds in project scope to accommodate feedback and refinement. Minor adjustments are expected, while major direction changes might affect timeline and budget. Clear documentation of approved designs helps prevent scope creep and manages expectations for additional changes. Tip: Gather internal feedback before each design review to provide consolidated input rather than piecemeal changes from different team members.

We use collaborative design tools that allow you to see work in progress, leave feedback directly on designs, and track revision history. These tools make remote collaboration effective and keep everyone aligned on current design status. You'll have access throughout the project to see progress. Tip: Ask for a brief tutorial on any collaboration tools early in the project to ensure smooth communication throughout.

We design mobile-first, starting with small screen experiences and scaling up to desktop. This ensures your site works well for the majority of users who browse on phones. Responsive design principles make content accessible and functional across all device sizes. Tip: Test your current website on your phone to identify mobile usability issues that should be priorities in the redesign.

We design for inclusive access, considering users with different abilities, technologies, and browsing preferences. This includes proper color contrast, keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and clear content structure. Accessible design often improves usability for all users, not just those with specific needs. Tip: Ask about specific accessibility standards your designer follows and request demonstration of key accessibility features.

Content strategy starts with understanding user information needs and business communication goals. We map content to user journeys, ensuring people find relevant information when they need it. The Experience Thinking approach treats content as part of the complete experience, not just words on pages. Tip: List the top 5 questions your customers ask most frequently and ensure your website content addresses these prominently.

This depends on your time, writing skills, and content complexity. You understand your business best, but professional writers can structure information for web users and optimize for search engines. Many projects benefit from collaboration - you provide expertise while writers handle structure and clarity. Tip: Try writing one key page yourself to gauge the time and effort required, then decide if professional help would be valuable.

We start with user mental models - how people think about your services and information. Card sorting and user research reveal natural groupings and navigation expectations. The structure should feel intuitive to visitors while supporting your business goals and content management needs. Tip: Ask friends or customers to organize your main services into groups that make sense to them, then compare their groupings to your current site structure.

Content strategy determines what information goes where and why, while copywriting focuses on how that information is written. Strategy considers user needs, business goals, and content lifecycle management. Copywriting crafts the actual words that communicate your message effectively to your audience. Tip: Start with content strategy first - know what information you need before worrying about how to write it.

We build content management systems that make updates straightforward for your team. We also provide training on content best practices and governance guidelines. Planning for ongoing content needs ensures your website stays current and continues serving users effectively over time. Tip: Identify who on your team will handle different types of content updates and ensure they receive proper training on the content management system.

SEO optimization helps people find your content, but user needs should drive content decisions first. Good content that serves users well typically performs better in search results than content written primarily for search engines. We integrate SEO best practices into content that prioritizes user experience. Tip: Focus on answering your customers' actual questions thoroughly rather than trying to optimize for specific keywords first.

We map content to user tasks and journey stages, placing information where people expect to find it. Priority content gets prominent placement, while supporting details are organized logically. The goal is matching user mental models with your content structure for intuitive navigation. Tip: Ask yourself what information a first-time visitor needs to take your desired next step, then prioritize that content prominently.

Platform choice depends on your content management needs, technical requirements, and future growth plans. We evaluate factors like ease of updates, integration capabilities, security requirements, and budget considerations. The right platform supports your users' experience while being manageable for your team. Tip: List your specific functional requirements first, then evaluate platforms based on how well they meet your actual needs rather than their general popularity.

Page speed directly affects user experience and search engine rankings. Slow sites frustrate users and increase abandonment rates. We optimize images, code, and hosting configurations to ensure fast loading across different devices and connections. Speed is a usability issue, not just a technical concern. Tip: Test your current website speed using free tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to understand your baseline and improvement opportunities.

Hosting affects website performance, security, and reliability. Consider factors like server location, backup policies, security features, and support quality. Cheap hosting can create ongoing problems that cost more than investing in reliable service initially. Match hosting capabilities to your website requirements. Tip: Ask potential hosting providers about their average uptime statistics and what support is available if problems occur.

Security involves multiple layers - secure hosting, regular updates, strong passwords, and security monitoring. We implement security best practices during development and provide guidelines for ongoing maintenance. User data protection and website reliability depend on consistent security measures. Tip: Establish a regular update schedule for your website platform and plugins rather than waiting for security alerts.

Integrations can streamline workflows and improve data consistency but add complexity. Consider which integrations provide real value versus nice-to-have features. Common valuable integrations include CRM systems, email marketing tools, and e-commerce platforms. Plan integrations carefully to avoid technical complications. Tip: List your current business tools and identify which ones would benefit from website integration before discussing technical possibilities.

Well-planned websites can accommodate reasonable changes and additions. We design flexible architectures that support growth and evolution. Major changes might require development work, but good initial planning minimizes disruptive updates. Consider future needs during initial platform selection. Tip: Think about how your business might grow in the next 2-3 years and discuss these possibilities with your development team during planning.

Regular backups and maintenance prevent problems and protect your investment. This includes software updates, security monitoring, performance optimization, and backup verification. Many organizations prefer managed maintenance services rather than handling technical upkeep internally. Tip: Establish a maintenance plan before launch rather than waiting for problems to occur - prevention is much less expensive than emergency fixes.

Website budgets should reflect project scope, complexity, and desired quality level. Consider design, development, content creation, testing, and launch costs. Also plan for ongoing expenses like hosting, maintenance, and content updates. Quality website design is an investment in your business growth and user experience. Tip: Get detailed proposals that break down costs by phase so you understand where your investment goes and can make informed decisions about scope.

Pricing reflects design complexity, custom functionality, content volume, integration requirements, and project timeline. Rush projects often cost more due to resource allocation needs. The Experience Thinking approach may require additional research and strategy work but typically delivers better long-term results and user satisfaction. Tip: Compare proposals based on deliverables and process quality, not just final price, to ensure you're making appropriate value comparisons.

User research reduces guesswork and prevents costly design mistakes. Understanding user needs and behaviors before design starts leads to better outcomes and fewer revisions. The upfront research investment typically saves money and time during development while creating more effective final results. Tip: Start with basic user research even if budget is limited - even simple user interviews can reveal important insights that improve design decisions.

Yes, real user behavior after launch often reveals improvement opportunities. Plan approximately 10-20% of initial budget for post-launch refinements and optimizations. This allows you to respond to user feedback and analytics data without requiring additional budget approval processes. Tip: Set aside post-launch budget before the project starts rather than trying to find funds after launch when improvements become apparent.

Track metrics that matter to your business - lead generation, user engagement, task completion rates, or customer satisfaction. Compare these metrics before and after launch to measure improvement. Good website design should support your business goals with measurable outcomes over time. Tip: Establish baseline measurements before redesign launch so you have clear comparison data to evaluate success and ROI.

Ongoing expenses include hosting, security monitoring, software updates, content management, and periodic improvements. Budget approximately 15-25% of initial design investment annually for maintenance and updates. This protects your investment and keeps the website performing effectively over time. Tip: Ask for a detailed breakdown of expected ongoing costs during project planning so you can budget appropriately for long-term website ownership.

Success depends on whether the website helps users accomplish their goals and supports your business objectives. Monitor user behavior, task completion rates, and business metrics like leads or sales. The Experience Thinking approach emphasizes measuring the complete user journey, not just individual page performance. Tip: Define 3-5 specific success criteria before launch, such as 'reduce customer service calls by 20%' or 'increase contact form submissions by 30%'.

Track metrics that connect to user experience and business goals - user flow patterns, task completion rates, time to find information, and conversion actions. Avoid vanity metrics that don't indicate real performance. Focus on data that helps you understand user behavior and identify improvement opportunities. Tip: Set up goal tracking in your analytics tool to measure specific user actions like form submissions, downloads, or page visits that indicate success.

Review key metrics monthly and conduct deeper analysis quarterly. Look for patterns in user behavior, seasonal variations, and the impact of any changes you've made. Regular monitoring helps you identify issues early and opportunities for improvement before they become major problems. Tip: Schedule regular review meetings with your team to discuss website performance and plan improvements rather than only checking when problems arise.

Major redesigns are typically needed every 3-5 years, depending on technology changes, business evolution, and user expectation shifts. However, ongoing improvements and updates should happen continuously. Consider redesign when user needs have significantly changed or when technology limitations prevent necessary improvements. Tip: Plan for gradual improvements rather than waiting for complete redesigns - continuous enhancement is more cost-effective and less disruptive to users.

Use multiple feedback methods - on-site surveys, user testing sessions, customer service interactions, and analytics data. The Experience Thinking lifecycle approach suggests gathering feedback from users at different stages of their relationship with your organization. Combine quantitative data with qualitative insights for complete understanding. Tip: Create simple feedback opportunities like a short survey on key pages or occasional user interviews to stay connected with user experience over time.

Investigate through user research, analytics review, and direct feedback collection. Sometimes issues are technical, but often they relate to content, navigation, or unmet user expectations. The key is understanding the root cause before making changes. Quick fixes might not address underlying experience problems. Tip: Observe actual users trying to complete tasks on your website rather than assuming what the problems might be - direct observation often reveals unexpected issues.