When discussing website design with clients one of my first questions is always, what websites do you like? Not necessarily websites in your own industry, but websites in general. The answer to this question helps me understand a lot more about the design they are looking for, sometimes more than the client even realizes.
This simple question can guide me in the right website design direction. How? For starters it helps me understand color combinations, whether they are looking for a “clean” look with whitespace, or a more detailed “busy” look. Finally, it helps me understand if they are looking for a website that is graphic based (bold colors, icons & unique typography) vs. a website that uses imagery (stock photos or custom photography) to tell their story.
Either type of website can be right for your business. When you are starting the design process for your company website, however there are some things you should consider.
Here are 3 questions to ask before designing websites
- What type of business do you have?
- Is it easily conveyed with stock photography? For example, do you provide business consulting? Images like that can be readily available for purchase and help tell what you do (1 on 1 meetings, vs. speaking engagements, vs. board room meetings.
- Is it easily conveyed with custom photography? For example, do you sell products like jewelry, home goods, or a tool? Something that you need a photographer to take a photo of both as a product shot but also in action.
- Is it difficult to convey with photography of any kind? Are you a service business providing IT help? Or perhaps you have a Medical or Scientific research company that doesn’t easily translate to imagery.
- What is your budget? Do you have money set aside for stock photography or for a photographer to take custom images for you?
- Look around the Internet at different websites. What websites do you like? Are they using actual photography or text and icons? Are they in your industry? Perhaps they are using a mix of both, some imagery and some iconography/typography.
Once you have your answers to these 3 questions you’ll have an idea about what direction you are looking to go in – more photography based vs. more graphical based. That will help you realize a realistic budget for your website and help you narrow down how you’ll write your content and tell the story of your business.
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