What is Design?

Design is a very broad term.

To design something doesn’t actually mean to create something artistic and enlightening like most of us imagine - because designing something is making a statement, and that statement can be either a positive or a negative one.

Once a statement has been made, people will make opinions:

“No – that looks horrible”
“Yes – I like that!”

The opinions will be positive or negative based on an individual perspective. There are some statements though that will have a majority opinion one-way or the other:

The same applies to Web Design.

The majority of ‘designers’ actually spend more time creating negative designs more than positive ones, and will actually push potential customers away rather than pulling them in.

Too many designers believe that the most complicated graphics, flashing images, heavy use of colour and differing text styles, will lead to an impressive array of graphics that will make everyone highly impressed.

The truth however, is somewhat different.

Heavily intensive designs are not likely to impress a visitor – exactly the opposite. Page layouts that change constantly, colours that make things hard to see, text styles that have differing meaning from one page to the next.

The truth is a users first impression (normally the one that counts) is made within the first few seconds of entering a website for the first time – probably before they have read the first word.

When the visitor got to the website, they were looking for something – possibly something you wanted to sell to them, or at least communicate with them about.

The visitor is actually looking for easy navigation, simple use of complimenting colours and text styles that are easy on the eye, easy to read, with consistent looking pages and good content.

So when it comes to the question ‘What is Design?’ Key4’s answer is simply:

“Designs that meet their objectives whilst appearing transparent to the human eye. Designs with clear navigation and pages that maintain consistency. Designs that will take users - all users - from A to B in the easiest possible method.

Ultimately, design is achieved when people don’t realise there is a design”

If you have a requirement for a website, or would like to discuss your requirements with Key4, please feel free to contact the 'Web Team'. We will be happy to discuss your requirements, your options, and costs, and propose solutions to your problems free of charge.

• Discuss your requirements with the 'Web Team'