Inspiration: I researched on google for some web designs that would design, I was grateful enough to come across http://www.siteinspire.com/ which has some wonderful designs. The designs on most of these web template layouts are very creative and modern. I have searched so many times on google looking for good designs and it can be rather difficult to find. Even just typing in site I know that are good, such as Element, Nike, Adidas or other photographers webpages such as http://www.jamesdeanphotography.com etc. These are all great webpages for design inspiration.
Target Audience: Target Audience should always be taken into mind when designing a website as you will need to specify what genre your aiming at as well as age group. For younger people your site MUST load fast otherwise peoples attention span won’t last long and they will go back and search for something else. Research has shown that if your site doesn’t load within 3 seconds people are going to leave it. I also think that whatever your site is named will determine the age group that will visit it, for example if its a site about beds and furniture your aiming for people that are married couples whom are late 20’s +
Site Testing Plan: The site is to be tested on different platforms to make sure it functions properly. For example it will need to be tested on PC’s, iPhone’s, Mac’s, iPad’s and other media devices and tablets. This is to be carried out once the site is live so you can fix all the problems and errors ASAP! This is an essential when designing, you need to make sure your site is capable of being viewed on all of the above. Otherwise you will have a loss of interest in your webpage.
Navigation Elements/Design Practises: With most of my layouts I have created, I have made it fairly interactable. There are 3-4 main buttons that are clickable and lead to galleries. Images are highlighted once clicked and will load, you can also scroll through the gallery and chose the image you would like to see enlarged on the screen, as well as a tab for design work etc. This is great for the viewer as the images are large and it fills the screen nicely.
Images for Web: Image size and quality as well as loading time are the main key points in a good webpage. Images can be resized and saved for web in photoshop (File> Save For Web) where you can change and alter quality and file size. You need to make sure all Images are saved for web, this will slim down the loading time of the entire website, as not many people will stay in your webpage if it hasn’t loaded after 3 seconds maximum. You also need to be careful how much content you have on your webpage such as flash images, big pictures etc, this will also determine the loading time of the webpage.
Web Hosting: Web hosting allows people to make the webpage live onto the world wide web (www) it is important your website is live, therefore people can access it and gain information. Personal web hosting is free but you a more than likely to have a URL that ends in (.blogspot.com) or (.wordpress.com) A few great sites to use for your own personal page or blog are; Wix, WordPress & Blogspot. I found these all really easy and simple to use.
Typography for Web: Typography for web has changed dramatically over the past few years. It is extremely rare you see Times New Romans used anymore. Clean Serif and Sans Serif Fonts are very commonly used as it’s easy to read and very eye catching. The last thing you want to do is have a lame, basic font that everyone looks at and goes “I can’t be bothered to read that.” Font is everything, it draws in the viewers eye, its not just a font, its a design.
Ben Birch Photography 