Website design

The design of a website concentrates on the ‘look and feel’ of the site and navigation around it. Often, website design is undertaken by a specialist designer who has a different role from a developer who writes the HTML code.

Website designers usually have experience in graphic design especially for online and on-screen situations. Website designers and developers often work closely together, so the one you choose to work on your site may well have a preferred partner for the project.

When seeking a website designer, ask to see examples of other sites that person has designed. Evaluate whether you think the look and feel that they have created for other sites suits those organisations.

Website designers should understand and apply current best practices in using screen area to draw attention to key messages, and have knowledge of user habits in reading and processing information from websites. These subtleties are sometimes very important in making a website really effective.

Similarly, consider whether those sites are easy to use and to navigate around. This will help you think about whether you believe that the designers have the capability to create a ‘look and feel’ and site navigation that meets your intended purpose and reflects your brand and reputation.

The home page and landing pages

The home page is the main page of your website. It is the page that is presented to a visitor when they type your domain name into a web browser. 

This is usually the page that sets the look and feel of the site and provides overall easy navigation to the content.

However, not all people will first arrive at your website on the home page. A website will typically have several landing pages, which are key topic pages that a visitor might access by typing a specific URL into a web browser, or by following a link distributed via email or found on another site, or by using a link found in a search engine.

For this reason it is important to ensure that the design of all pages of the website, as well as the home page, are well–designed with consistent and useful navigation to the rest of your site.

For websites awarded for the quality of their design see the Australian Web Awards and for international sites the Web Marketing Association Web Awards. Or for websites voted by designers and users as the best, check out the 101 best websites.