The concept of “good web design” is as controversial a topic as the notions and theories of the “perfect machine” or the “best economic model.” While I cannot give you any answers on engineering or the economy, good web design is definitely rooted in certain fundamental drivers or core motivations that help in convincing and converting users.
- Product and Brand Image: The biggest determinant of a website’s design and layout is the product (or service) itself and the brand image that it evokes in the consumer’s mind. The basic differentiation of whether the website is transactional or purely informational sets the tone for the entire design blueprint.
- Findability: A website is your brand’s address on the internet. Making your visitors’ job easier by taking them to exactly what they had in mind is a top priority for any web designer. Making sure that you get each piece correct goes a long way in ensuring quick findability and easy navigation for every site visitor, helping them along the conversion funnel.
- Customer Preferences: A business that does not listen to its target market does not remain in business for too long. Listening to consumer preferences begins with designing the website that is going to sell your products and services. Invest time and effort in digging out as many details as you can lay your hands on about your target audience. Discover what motivates your target customer’s purchase – low price, time sensitive deals, one of a kind pieces, ability to create DIY products, whatever. And design with this central stimulus as the fulcrum around which the entire site moves.
- Device Based: This might be the most important one on this list, after Google’s “mobile-geddon”. In this rapidly mobile-first economy, website design cannot afford to become mobile friendly retroactively. Websites need to be designed with mobile, tablets as well as desktops in mind. Many brands choose to work on their desktop sites as their primary online destination, building watered down versions of their desktop site design as their mobile sites. Trouble is, an approach that treats the mobile as a step-child of the desktop site runs the risk of alienating younger users who prefer mobile over desktop as a first port of call.