Web Design Strategy
Selecting the right design strategy is very crucial for any given website project. A good start is to produce a paper-and-pencil sketch first, to serve as a rough layout of how the webpage is going to be created. Newcomers to website design may harbor the notion that this is an unnecessary step, and to just kick off the project without any planning at all. This is very risky in terms of cluttering the design, with many hours of editing and fixes facing a web designer with a gung-ho attitude. To avoid this, he or she should visualize how the project will appear with all the desired elements in place. In addition to the technical parts, there are a lot more to a web design than the average person thinks. Functionality and visual impact go hand-in-hand with a website’s success. First impression is very important.
An important guideline for individuals who have just embarked on their own web design career is to practice moderation and balance in designing. Avoid overkill that will only make a page layout look cluttered and disorderly. Make it pretty enough, but not to the extent that the more functional aspects of a webpage, such as navigation and the content itself, are compromised. A lot of websites have fallen for the concept of overdesigning. To get an idea how an optimal design should look like, the person need only examine some of the more popular and successful websites out in the Internet. Chances are, there is one outstanding aspect that they all share, which is functionality.
