Think of the Target

One thing that seemed to be a running theme when it comes to advice is that as designers we shouldn’t be designing for ourselves, but for the client. This is often interpreted as creating a site based on what the client wants, when really it should be about what they need.

The main purpose of any design is to communicate something to a target audience in the most effective way possible. Thats right, the whole point of your clients website is to provide the required information to the users and to turn those users into business for the company.

Knowing about the clients target market and crafting the content and design of the site to them is what will make a site successful. An all singing all dancing sexy site can look great, but if the users cannot navigate around it they will soon leave, making the design a failure and the client lose potential business.

So what the client needs from the site is for it to be tailored to the user, not to the designers or their own tastes.

A few tips to remember when designing

As some designers are in the mindset that it is all about how a design looks rather than what the site communicates, here are a few key points to consider during the design process:

Research is key

Understanding not only the clients business and what they need to place on the site, but also the area of business that they are in and what their competitors are doing is important to know. With strong research and evidence behind you designing the site should be easier, and also convincing the client of what they need rather than they want can be backed up with the facts and figures.

It’s not about the clients tastes

One of the hardest parts of design is trying to convince the client that their site doesn’t need to do all the things they like from other websites. Even though clients do know more about their company than you will, most find it hard to get away from what they like, compared to what their users will need. The research that you do will help show them that if they want a site that will bring in business that they will need to not think about their tastes, as after all it isn’t them who need to use the site… this is often easier said than done.

It’s also not about your portfolio

Even if you’re just starting out you cannot be selfish, you are not building these sites so that you have some good graphic design site examples within your portfolio. You are building them to serve a purpose and do a job. Remember design is subjective, so just because you don’t personally like how it looks, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good design. Having done the research into the site, the design should reflect this research and as such it should be the best design solution for the site.

Finding a balance

Designing a site is really a balancing act, of trying to create a site that combines the clients ideas, with what the client requires and also your design knowledge, all to make the best site for your clients target audience.