5. Design
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From all the great work we have done in the research, planning and content stages, now comes where things really start taking shape. We get to produce a design which is built on the solid foundations we have completed in the previous stages.
Wireframes
We are doing a lot more than colouring in the wireframes, as some other agencies do. There is far more to a successful design than taking a wireframe and adding real images and colour to it. Wireframes are just rough pages for clients to understand better how the pages would fit together and some light prototyping to explain in more detail than just text, how a feature would work. The layout of the wireframes should be irrelevant to the completed design. Many design agencies and UX folks take the wireframes and then add some level of detail and colour. This just feels wrong and is not the best way to produce a successful design. Once they have probably put more thought into the wireframes than needed and 2, they don't explore the many design options and opportunities to excel in the design as they could.
Contact? Get in touch with us - We are website developers in Aberdeen.
Website theme
A big part of the design is building around a theme. Every design decision should be based on the theme that you have established in the previous planning stage. By theme, I mean a design style that is built. For instance, this site is built around “professionalism yet friendly”.
This site's blue isn't just some random shot in the dark, blue is seen as a colour of trust. That's the reason why most banks' colours are blue. We want to show you can trust us, and the blue reinforces that. Media Surgery also wants to be seen as approachable and easy to chat to, and work with, without the jargon. Whilst the message and theme can change in the future, the design has to fit the theme, once that theme has been established. Designers need to go all out and create something which transcends the previous discovery and research work with the theme very much in their minds.
Examples
House Of Mulben is built around the freedom of the outdoors. The effect on the home page with the 3D-like landscape and the picture of the forest on most pages tries to get the visitors to think of getting in the beautiful landscape of Speyside. The strong rigid outdoor fonts and colours only help to reinforce the theme. There are a lot of elements to balance in a well-performing site, but the theme and the bigger picture are important underpinnings of all successful websites.