This is part 4 of a series focusing on the different approaches to a successful digital project. Daniel Cheong-See describes how important design is in the development life cycle.

The aesthetic design of a website plays an instrumental role in the success of the project. The credibility of a company is often judged purely on the brand application, layout, typography and colour. There are though, many other factors which contribute to a successful design of a web project.

Here at Areeba, creative input is crucial at many stages of the project. It is important that design is considered from the initial inception of the project to understand organisational objectives, contribute to developing a good user experience, and also throughout the technical development of the project to oversee the creative direction and to make sure the initial vision is maintained.
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1) Establish a good creative brief from the outset

A good creative brief is critical to the foundation of communicating to the creative team the essence of what you are trying to achieve. It is the floor plan to creating a successfully designed website that meets yours and your users needs.

It is a common misconception that if a comprehensive scoping and requirements stage is performed, then a creative brief doesn’t need to be done. Much of the information and research provided in the initial stage can be replicated into the creative brief, but without the creative brief, you are not communicating with the design team how you would like the brand of the website perceived by the target audience.

A good creative brief should introduce the design team to the background of the project, key business objectives and project goals.

Identify any success factors of the project so that the design team keeps this in mind when coming up with a design solution. Identifying who the target audience is that the interface is considered with the demographic and style of user.

It is important to approach the creative brief as a collaborative process. All stakeholders should be involved with a design representative so they can advise on any questions that might arise during the questioning. It is a good opportunity for stakeholders to consolidate the perceived direction.

It is important to get all parties signed off on the creative brief once it has been completed so that everyone has a reference point to continually refer to in order to validate any decisions made within the design.
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2) Determine your brand image

One major point which seems to be overlooked when creating a website is the importance of the brand. It is all too often that a company undertaking a web project haven’t really thought about how they want their company perceived in the online marketplace. A company should work out how they want to reflect their organisational philosophy and organisational characteristics. It is important to build a brand personality that can evoke credibility and motivate prospective customers.

It is all is very easy to become reliant on latest online trends, glossy buttons and gradients, but if it doesn’t tie in with your fundamental brand image, then it should not be applied. Colour is a very important emotive devise which should be thought out with extreme consideration. How do you want your user to think, feel?
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3) Don’t forget your goals

After establishing the main user and business objectives within both the creative brief and the requirements gathering stage, it is important to continually cross reference them throughout the project.

Make sure that any processes that the user has to achieve on the site are done in a logical and easy way. There are factors for all different interpretations that the user can take to perform a task. A design should be simple and intuitive and help the user perform the task they are there to do.

If one of your key goals is to showcase your brand, then design a site that reflects the essence of the brand. Use colour and imagery which symbolises the characteristics of your company.

If one of your key goals is providing information, make sure that your attention is on creating content that is usable and readable.

If a key goal is for subscription conversions, then make sure it is prominent, Make sure it is clear on the outset where it is, use colour and contrast to make the subscription area stand out, reduce the number of steps necessary to perform the subscription process.
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4) Don’t forget about good design principles

It is important to remember fundamentals of good design when designing a website. All too often clients think that cramming everything above the fold of a homepage is the best way to deliver everything the user needs. Remember the importance though of white space and balance of a design. Squashing everything into a small area may have negative effects on the visual representation of the brand and information hierarchy. White space reduces the amount of information that users have to process. When a user first scans the page if the areas are not easily distinguishable then it is harder to find what they are looking for.

Don’t try and cram everything on the page, try and be considered to what the user will actually want and need at that point in their visit.

Clarity of layout and representation of information is primary importance when designing an interface. If users can’t find what they need they will leave. They key is good information design. Organising information on the page during the wireframe stage allows clarity of what information you are trying to deliver without being influenced by the brand.

Balance in design is a key to give the perception of a stable and quality brand. A balanced user interface is more easily understood and hierarchy is more easily indentified. Here at Areeba we often apply a grid based approach to our interfaces in order to achieve a balanced design. Convention within design can also assist in creating an interface that a user would be familiar in using5.

There are many established ways that websites are designed which users today rely heavily on, for example how a menu is displayed and operates, or how a link works.

Key messages on the page should be done in a clear and uncluttered way. Keeping it brief allows users to scan the page and identify key messages easily. Clear understandable entry points are important throughout the site. The copy of these entry points should allow any user to understand where they are going in the website.
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5) Measure results and continually improve

It is important to realise that once your website is deployed you must monitor its performance to make sure it is fulfilling your goals. Analytics play an important role in reflecting on this but it is harder to quantify general brand feedback. Simply asking people for feedback can be successful but you must be mindful that brand perception can be quite a subjective thing. A continual reflection of the initial project goals and objectives is a good monitor of success. Testing regularly against success metrics allows you to adapt and fine-tune your website to better fulfill both user and business goals.

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Thanks to our picture source: http://www.changethethought.com

Find more in your workshop for a successful digital project:

Part 1 – taking an operational strategy approach: 6 Steps To Your Successful Digital Strategy
Part 2 – a technical viewpoint: 4 Things To Know Before Building Your Web Site
Part 3 – the project management part to it: 6 Rules To Avoid Killing Your Web Project
Part 5 – a take on methodologies: 7 Reasons Why Waterfall Methodology Stinks