Each and every website we build is architected and designed to match our client’s needs. We don’t pull them off a virtual shelf or recycle anything. In a world of templates and canned solutions, why go through all that effort?

Why Custom Web Design?

In the world of economics it is understood that there are two ways to compete as a business: low cost, and differentiation. Our clients come to us to create a website that is going to help grow their businesses. Custom design allows us to tailor the look, feel, and information of a website to fit the company exactly. Ultimately this allows our clients to do one or more of the following:

  • Close more sales
  • Charge premium rates
  • Choose which type of customers they want to work with

How We Design

The project’s design phase, more than any other, is treated like it’s own project. Our process is set up optimally for both quality and timeline. That is to say, we nail the design 100% of the time, without never-ending revisions.

Design Kick-off

To get started, we look at examples of existing sites that both our clients and our team bring to the table. Through a thorough discussion of what works, what doesn’t, and why, our designers start building a mental image of the site.

Wireframes

A wireframe shows the location of each element on a page, without showing the actual element itself. For example, an image might be represented by a box with an ‘x’ through it, with a label “banner image” or something similar. The idea is that the page layouts are defined independently of the look and feel.

This is most important for usability. In this stage focus is on getting all information on each page, and ensuring that the user’s paths through the site give the user what they want, and accomplish the site goals of lead generation, purchase, or another type of engagement.

Look and Feel

This is where the site really starts to come to life, as our mental image makes its way through photoshop, into a PDF, and on your screen. Exciting, right?

In our first round, we present one design concept, consisting of the homepage and one interior page. After getting feedback and confirming that we’re heading in the right direction, we flesh out the rest of the wireframes with vibrant, custom design.

A Custom Web Design System

A visual system is the foundation of any layouts we create. The system defines styles for any elements that might appear on the site – form fields, page titles, buttons, quotes, and more. By using a system, the layouts are grounded in a logic that the user can follow (mostly subconsciously) and which our developers user for clean code (very, very consciously).

Revisions

Considering feedback in the design is an important part of collaboration with our clients. We rely on our clients to understand their market, their customers, and of course, their services, and they rely on us in matter of design, usability, and digital marketing strategy. Together, we’ve create some pretty cool websites!

The Result

You might be expecting us to just say “A great design!” here and be done. That’s certainly part of it, but not all: because we have paid specific attention to user flow, layout, and using a visual system, we haven’t just created a beautiful design. We have set ourselves up for success in the site build, and ultimately for an effective site after launch.