By definition, design is the most noticeable component of a website. By conveying credibility and professionalism, reflecting brand values and impressing visitors, website design has an immediate impact on your audience.

Why refresh?

Refreshing the design and the layout of your website is a quicker and cheaper option to re-branding, yet can help to elevate your organisation to the next level.

In this article, we will give you some tips on various design elements, such us the Home page, logo, and colours that you might consider when refreshing your website.

Refreshing your Home page

Online, first impressions really do count: the average website visitor will make a judgment about a website in a matter of seconds.

Logo

One of the most important issues is to make sure that your brand is consistent across all media, which means that the corporate logo should be present on the Home page. The logo’s positioning, size, and any accompanying slogan is fundamental to the effective portrayal of your identity, and the way in which visitors recognise your site, and then distinguish it from your competitors.

Issues to be considered regarding the logo include:

• Positioning: be aware of fixed page size for different screen sizes especially when the logo is on the right side of the screen
• Size: there is no rule about logo sizes, but it must be immediately visible and recognisable
• Slogan: be careful when choosing to put a slogan in your logo. In some cases, if it is too specific it might exclude niche activities of your organisation. At the same time, if it is too general it might not add any value
• Maintaining good visibility even on new media applications (i-Phone, Blackberry etc): more and more visitors are looking at websites when they are out of the office. This should be remembered when designing or refreshing your site

Page structure

Ensure that the page structure assists the reader’s natural flow. Plan carefully how the available space should be used: a clean layout that uses a lot of white space enhances a site's looks.

Use of white space is essential. This so-called negative space gives the viewer the freedom required to absorb the displayed information.

More on Home page structure please contact fanni.vig@intendance.com

Refreshing the colours

Colours are part of the corporate identity and can change the entire look and feel of a website. Colours do have meanings as a consequence they must be in line with your organisation’s brand values. 

The colour coding could vary depending on website section; our research shows that it is common practice to use different colours for each of the sectors. However, a consistent feel needs to be maintained throughout the site.

Don’t change the layout and type faces unnecessarily as the eye does not like having to readjust constantly. It is also worth noting that for many of the surveyed websites downloadable materials lacked consistency and coherency with online design. Don’t forget that these materials are a part of your design too.

The appropriate use of colour, both to frame the content and as background will help portray the site as professional in look and feel.

Background colours can easily obscure text. Dark-coloured text on a light-coloured background is easier to read than the other way round, so credit is given for subtle and harmonious use of colour and white background.

Make sure the navigation graphics such as buttons and tabs are clearly visible. Hyperlink colours should be consistent throughout the site and not confused with headings text, otherwise people will start clicking on the headings. Typefaces and background colours need to remain consistent.

Colour is a powerful design component and should always be selected strategically to create impact and focus attention. Don’t forget that colours – and colour combinations – have perceived meanings and therefore will affect viewer perception of a firm (i.e. blue is the colour of the “thinker”).

More on colours please contact fanni.vig@intendance.com