In order to master the art of web design, designers must follow
the subsequent pointers:
1. Web designers are marketers per se. Web sites are all about
advertising products, ideas and services. Thus, a web designer
has to understand the mindset of marketers in order to create a
design that sell.
2. Read, read and read. We do not experience everything. Thus,
our tendency is to learn from others. Reading web design books,
newsletters and tips are pretty valuable since they can save you
time and effort. Basically, books are more conclusive than
newsletters and tips however, they are for free and mostly
updated.
3. Narrow down your target market. You cannot please everybody
same thing that you cannot be good at everything. Thus, this
fact calls for the narrowing of your target market. Even in the
interface of the so-called web design, a designer cannot claim
that he is an expert at anything or everything about the needs
of a website. It is better to pick a certain audience and try to
be good at catching their attention, preference and choice. This
practice allows you to be best at a given area thus developing
expertise.
4. Answer your target audience's needs. In order to answer the
visitor's needs, web designers must know what kind of visitors
his site is welcoming. Do they belong to the younger generation
or otherwise? What do they want from your site? Are these
information, details and pleasures in your site in order to get
their undivided attention and loyalty? Bear in mind that colors,
font size, style of graphics, contents and the entirety of the
site affects viewer's decision and choice.
5. Know the basics of SEO and copywriting. Though Search Engine
Optimization and copywriting are not directly related to
designing, still, designers must have basic knowledge about
them. This is because web designing is intertwined with
marketing, use of keywords and visibility.
Aside from that, designers must also have knowledge of the
programming basics. If not, the tendency is waste time or to
create a mediocre or unsatisfactory design to the detriment of
the sites.
6. The primacy of functionality. If ever you are faced to make a
decision between a web site's aesthetic form and its
functionality, you have to be firm in upholding the latter. Not
everything that is pretty is 'saleable'. Besides, you don't
create web sites for the sake of making it nice-looking.
Above anything else, the site must be functional so as to cater
to every visitor's wants and needs. Appearance is a means to
catch visitor's attention nevertheless, it is not the end. If a
designer prioritizes appearance alone without considering its
primary consideration the web site's marketability will suffer.
7. Know when to break the rules. Rules are only guidelines, if
you feel that the rules are inappropriate for a certain creation
follow your heart's desire and venture on an experimental
adventure.
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