I believe with the information available so far on the process of website redesign, you have your strategy and plan ready to give your business website a well-deserved facelift for a wonderful year ahead.
Within the last two weeks, I have covered in detail website redesign strategy and planning, the first two steps to a five-part series. I will recommend that you go through them before you read this post. Your success will depend on them.
This stage is crucial for your business from a marketing point of view. Your business website is the interface to the outside world and makes a huge difference in terms of how potential partners and customers view your business. I shared a wonderful story of a lovely client last month about design and how it helped them attract the right partnerships for their NGO – read more about it here.
The following details are covered under this stage:
1. Design Layout
It is important to note that, to a very large extent, the design layout of the new business website will depend on your industry. For example, retail company will want the website developed into category of products to make it easy for visitors to find what they want. On the other hand, venture capital firm maybe organized in a portfolio type design layout, showcasing key services on the front page.
Here are some ideas;
- Study your industry to understand the trend;
- Outline key design elements to include in the new layout;
- Produce various sketches of the layout;
- Review and fine-tune them where necessary.
2. Design Prototype
Once your sketches are out of the way, produce prototypes of the sketches. There are various tools for this purpose. A couple of examples include invisionapp and protoshare.
Producing these prototypes will help you get a real sense of the look and feel of the new site, hence giving you the opportunity to make important design decisions.
3. Color Schemes
The chosen color schemes will be influenced by your new branding.
4. Visual Assets
Gather all your visual assets (both hard and digital), analyze them carefully and outline necessary improvements to align with the new design. If they are no longer needed, write them down as well.
