Whenever you are visiting a website, what is the first thing that you notice? Colors? Texts? Images? Ads? We, end-users, tend to notice the aesthetics first before the functions and features of a particular website. Some even stopped at looking and judging the artistry of a site or the lack of it. In fact, very few of us will notice how smooth the transaction is upon checkout, for instance. The sad truth is we tend to react only when the ‘Add to Cart’ button is not working.

We, as users, are after the usability of the website. Did you know, however, that there are people who work hard just to make sure that all the overall design, as well as all the functions and features of a website, is working well? Yes, these are the web designers and developers. If, for users, web design is all about how the site looks, for developers, it is a completely different story although the goal is making any website as user-friendly as possible.

 

 

What developers are actually doing

If there is one thing that separates the developers from the users that is the former finds ways to solve the latter’s problems. Developers narrow the gap between the users and the brands through uncovering issues that prevent a specific brand in realizing its full potential digitally. Solving business problems while providing users the experience they deserve is no easy feat, but someone has got to do the job.

During meetings, there is one agenda in the mind of a developer. This is not about discussing the project in terms of requirements and specifications. Instead, the developers are after knowing what the challenges the brand currently experiences and how they can address these challenges through design. It is about knowing the roadblocks of penetrating the digital world successful. This is true whether a brand is just thinking of building its own website or planning to redesign the existing one.

How design helps overcome challenges

1) Creating a digital identity

True enough, a website is the extension of the brand online. Easier for any developer to create a website from scratch or redesign one when there are existing marketing collateral from the logo down to the letterhead. There should be synergy and consistency wherein what a user sees in your office or store must be also seen in your site. Not literally though. These means your logo, key graphics, and key colors, among others, to show integration. In this way, the users will not be confused. They will know from the time they enter your site that it belongs to your brand.

Developers understand that the website cannot deviate from the brand’s identity. This is especially true for brands that are already existing outside the digital world even before they decide to hire developers to build their website. For redesign projects, eliminating weak points to emphasize the strong points is the necessary next step. The current website must be examined to determine if there is a consistent theme or whether the right fonts, colors, images, etc. are being used. This brings us to the second item.

2) Communicating the digital identity

Along with theme consistency, developers need to make sure that the elements in the website are talking to the right audience. Does the site use the appropriate wordings and relevant graphics? What if the elements are repositioned? Will it create a much stronger dialogue with the brand’s intended audience if the graphics are emphasized?

Decidedly, the developers will step into the process of building your website so that they themselves would understand the needs of your target audience. They will go through the process of understanding your target audience’s thought processes when visiting your website – may it be an old or new website.

Developers decide on specific things such as how the overall design flows, which elements attract the user’s sight the most and the least and how useful the navigation. The decisions, however, is based on how particular elements (i.e. background image, font types, colors of the call to action buttons, etc.) work together. It is through the combination of these elements the site will be able to communicate effectively to its intended audience. This brings us to the third item.

3) Speaking to diverse audiences

Speaking of the right audience, designers and developers are well-aware how diverse the audience segmentation is. Also, depending on the brand’s digital strategy, the website may target more than one audience, but with equally diverse factors.

A perfect example is a brand that targets both direct buyers and dealers. These audiences have competing needs hence it is rather easy to dilute that message for each if the website itself provides no clear boundaries which information is for who. A perplexing website has an inherent risk of excluding an important audience segment that is critical in the brand’s sustainability.

Thus, the job of the developers is to organize the processes for each target audience. For instance, there should be separate login forms for the buyers and the dealers or separate links for partners, stakeholders, and sponsors. This entails careful research on the part of the developers, asking questions and uncovering the brand’s goals for each target audience.

So, what’s the secret?

Ultimately, designing solutions is not without difficulties. The process is also time-consuming. Nevertheless, the most critical part of the process is listening. Listening and reading between the lines are the key getting to the core of every issue. There are instances when the brand owners and representatives themselves have no idea what the problem is. They just know and feel it intuitively thus they often don’t understand the root of the problem.

For developers, listening takes more than just listening to what the clients and perhaps, users are saying. They also have to listen and take a cue from how it was being said and what has not been said. Developers can only build a cohesive digital strategy and speak to the audience once they understand the breadth and depth of the issue through emphatic listening. It is only through this that the best solutions are created.

 

Image credit: HipGloss.com