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Design Based on Your Business

You can’t go wrong with design standards, but you can improve your website design by considering both your business and your target audience.

One of the first things we have our new clients do is browse around the web and find at least 3 sites they like and tell us what it is they like about them. This helps us to get a feel for the general design style that the client finds pleasing. We also ask a series of questions that include; information about the general business (what industry is the business in?), who the target market of the site is, who is the competition, what color scheme is preferred and determine what the site map (navigation) for the new site will be. Finally, we ask the client if they want to include any specific images within the overall design of the front page or any sub page of the website. This information is enough to get started on concept designs for the site.

So how does what industry a company is in play such an important role in how the site is designed? Simple, when you start to associate industries with target markets. For instance, say your client is a new rock band. Generally, the target audiences for rock bands can be considered teens to 30-somethings. The design has to reflect what appeals to this market. It can have audio and video, be completed animated using Flash with graphics that reflect the style of the band. There doesn’t have to be a great deal of text, so the design relies heavily on imagery and audio. Now take for instance that your client is a company that is in the business of leasing to large corporations. This is about as far away as you can go from a rock band and this client has very different needs and a very different target market. Since this company’s target market is other corporations, specifically those in that corporation that are responsible to obtaining financing, the design is going to have to convey credibility, success, professionalism, etc. They’ll have to assume that the first thing people want to see is a clean, professional site that is easy to navigate. People will need to find critical information quickly and won’t be so concerned about a “flashy” intro or extraneous animation.

From b2b/b2c ecommerce, to health providers and every industry in between, you must take into consideration the industry and target market to produce effective web design.