Custom Web Design: Impression vs Reality
Creating a custom web design is easy! Just pick some colours, throw some text at it and done! Right? Well, not quite…
Colours
The impression
Matching colours is easy! All you need is an idea of which colours you want to use. Just base it on the logo and you are good to go.
The reality
Colours are actually really difficult to match correctly. Each colour has a psychological effect on the user. Blue is a confident colour, but too much blue makes the website seem cold. Red is an action colour, but too much red is a warning sign. Purple is a sign of exclusivity and royalty, but too much purple makes a site seem pretentious and overpriced.
A custom web design will use a set of colours that complement each other and don’t overwhelm the users. Sometimes not using colour says more than using colour.
Fonts
The impression
Comic sans is the best font ever! We should use fun and funky fonts that catch attention. It doesn’t matter what fonts they are. All fonts look good together. We can always change it later.
The reality
Comic sans was never intended for use on business websites. It is for children – so maybe if you are designing a child’s party website you can use comic sans.
The fonts that you use have to be easy to read and have to speak to the character of the company whose website you are building. There are fonts that are light and delicate and there are fonts that are strong and bold. You can have sans serif or serif, handwriting, typeset and so many more varieties. Using a delicate font is great for a jewellery store, but not so great for a business consultant who needs to be confident and bold. Handwriting or serif fonts are nice for exclusive boutiques, but not necessarily a good idea for a bank.
A custom web design will combine a set of two or three fonts that are easy to read and really demonstrate some of the characteristics of your business.
Layout
The impression
Layout doesn’t really matter. You can just put it together and make sure that it all makes sense. A few rectangles and some circles for effect and we’re good to go.
The reality
The layout is actually a complex information hierarchy. The most important information should be above the fold and it should be structured in a way that makes sense and makes it easy for users of the website to find the information that they need quickly. The designer needs to find a way to highlight the important bits without making the page long and tedious.
The colours and fonts will be used to highlight sections and separate information. Shapes are used to contain or highlight parts of the site. Icons have to make sense to – there is no use using a wriggly line to indicate a contact page. No one will know what it means and you will lose visitors to confusion.
A custom web design is about balance and careful consideration. It is not something that can be thrown together in a couple of hours. Each decision has to be carefully weighed and considered. The impact of each part on the whole is important.
If you get a website designed in a couple of hours it is likely to be a generic, copy and paste job and won’t truly speak to your business’s character. It is not going to be the best website design for you and your company.