Lunchbox Creative takes the complicated out of marketing.
Go from overlooked and overwhelmed to confident and eye-catching.
Figuring out which site you need
Should developers know the basics of design or should designers be able to program? This is a controversial question, to which everyone finds an answer for himself. However, taking into account the growing trend among employers for cross-functionality of specialists, an undoubted advantage for a programmer will be understanding how to use and combine graphic elements, fonts and colors on the site. And in freelancing, this will allow you to implement more complex and highly paid projects, where quality is often evaluated not only in terms of functionality, but also creativity.
In the process of website development, design is not the most important task. First, you need to conduct a brief with the customer and determine the main goal. This, at least, will protect against possible alterations when I have already made up half of the site, and the client says that this is not what he meant (although there is still no escape from minor edits). But the design is closely intertwined with the concept of the site and its functional direction. Therefore, before you start developing layouts and font combinations, I recommend you to find out in detail:
- What does the company do?
- What is the purpose of the site for business (for sales, lead generation, brand awareness or strengthening, etc.)?
Who is the target audience of the site (what socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, what motivates and upsets them)?
Does the customer have an understanding or vision of what functionality the site should provide?
- What task or "pain" of the user is solved by the company through the site?
- Is there a brandbook or corporate identity?
- Who does the company consider its competitors?
- Which sites from the point of view of design (references) do you like?
Of course, when a customer gives you a ready—made and well-written brandbook, your task is simply to deal with it (what colors, what fonts, what kind of pictures, photos and even composition will be). In fact, the visual style of the site has already been done for you, it remains to design, arrange everything correctly and make up. But if there is no brandbook, then the selection of fonts, colors, and visual style in general falls on your shoulders. Unless, of course, the customer has attached a designer to the TOR. But do not panic, divide the elephant into parts and act step by step.
