Inspiration can come from a lot of places, particularly when it comes to creative outlets such as design. Designing a website that is both appealing and functional can sometimes be tricky. It requires carefully balancing creativity with usability. Here at Ricorocks Digital Agency, this is something we’re great at. Creating beautiful and practical websites is what we do! Whether you’re looking to re-design your website, or just interested in the thought process behind it all, here’s some of our top tips for coming up with design ideas:
1. Understand the Client
Getting to know the client is the best way to start. What do they want their site to accomplish? What journey do they want the user to take? Are they a no-fuss, no-nonsense sort of company, or a company that’s pushing boundaries and getting inventive? Are they going for small and intimate or big and corporate? Carefully considering the needs of the client will help you to start pulling ideas together and forming a sort of design strategy.
2. Do Some Research
Who are the client’s biggest online competitors? Thoroughly researching competitive sites can help you to see what they’re doing right, and what you would do better. Think about why their sites are doing well, and what it is that’s attracting their customers. Make sure you explore the sites like a user would, so you can see which parts of the process are more complicated and consider how you’d improve it.
3. Review Your Assets
Do you have an old design you’re working from that needs updating? If the client wants to stay close to their old site, and simply modernise the design, be careful not to throw too much out the window. Try to keep a similar colour scheme, or the fonts, or parts of the layout. You want that familiarity to still be there, so the client doesn’t feel like they’ve lost their company identity. If you’ve been given a branding document or wireframes, make sure to stick closely to what they’ve asked for, and not go too wild with pushing those boundaries.
4. Explore the Quirky and the Contemporary
I get a lot of inspiration from other websites. While it’s good to look at sites we use all the time and simple yet effective designs, looking at sites that really push the boat out and stretch the limits of what a website can do can really get the creative juices flowing. Sites like www.thebestdesigns.com and www.awwwards.com are great for finding inspiration and ideas.
5. Use Available Resources
There’s some fantastic free-to-use sites out there for web design. Sometimes if you’re stuck, typing some of your site’s keywords into these websites can bring up some surprisingly helpful results. Free image sites like https://unsplash.com and www.pexels.com contain a wealth of inspiring and creative images. If you’re looking for fun or functional icons, https://thenounproject.com has over two million royalty-free icons. Use these resources to get imaginative with your designs and add some personality to your website.
Or, you could save yourself the searching, the choosing and the endless comparisons, and contact Ricorocks Digital Agency today. Our inhouse design team will design your modern, functional and inspirational website, ready to engage current and potential customers. You never know, your new website could be one that other designers look to for inspiration!
For more information on updating your site, get in touch today.