web design tasks - part I

What does a web designer do? We examine all the tasks that go into a typical web design project

If you are having your first web site built by a web designer then hopefully you'll be interested in how the designer is going to build it. All the most successful websites are the result of a partnership between the designer and the client. We are not saying that you should be learning how to do the job of a web designer - that is, after all, what you pay them for! However, a basic understanding of what is going on is useful so that you can provide the designer with the information he needs. Any designer worth their salt will talk you through the process as they go - explaining the process whilst leaving the technical jargon back in the office - but we're going to give you a flying start in this article. We're going to discuss the typical tasks for a straightforward small-sized web project which doesn't include e-commerce. Such a project can easily be tackled by a single web designer. The mechanics of larger projects which usually need a whole team of
designers are not covered here.

The very first task that a designer must complete is to find out the clients requirements. These include the intended purpose of the site and how we will know if the site is a success or not. Once the basics are clear, more detail will be needed. For example, for a product promotion site we need to know about the product, who the customer is, what information would a potential customer be searching for? These requirements are the cornerstones of the new web site which every design decision will be based on, making the very first stage of web site design vitally important.

Now that the designer knows what you want they can build the structure of the site. A diagram of the proposed structure should the pages of the website, how they all link together, and how the information will be organised. Every web site structure will be different as it depends upon what you want your web site to achieve. What should be evident is that the proposed structure is logical, easy to understand and navigate through, and contains the right information in the right places.

Next is the design of the page itself which has two major aspects. The most obvious one is the style of the page - graphics, colour scheme, and layout. However, the most important consideration is the text content of the page. The aesthetic aspects of the page do matter of course. The finished pages need to look professional and attractive, thus enticing readers in, not driving them away. However, it is the information on the page that is of most interest to search engines and your potential readers. Getting that information right is a huge topic in itself and will be covered elsewhere on this website.

Part II coming up soon.

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