Why custom web design matters

Posted 9 years ago in brand identity, design chat, web design

In today’s fast-moving London web-design world, one of our more bizarre competitors isn’t even another agency, it’s an IKEA-style, assemble-yourself kit. It’s not what we stand for: we believe in custom web design.

So I am here to champion creativity!
I think it’s possible to establish your business online in a much better way.

Conceiving, designing and building custom web design for companies in Chelsea and Fulham, here in London, from scratch is an art form of sorts, and one we’ve been working on for years. While creative styles and technology change (and change they do, constantly), the principles of understanding a customer base and tailoring a product offering best-suited to them is something that I doubt will ever lose its effectiveness.

So, for us, the idea of using something pre-made as a marketing tool for a great-quality product or service feels like a disconnect. I believe that it’s always worth investing in quality custom graphic design. It works.

RETURN ON A WEBSITE INVESTMENT

The question I am often asked is, ‘how do we know if there’s a good return on this investment?’, and it is true this can be a great intangible. It can be a tough call to measure or quantify how customers feel about your business and then indeed how this translates into sales or new clients.

This said, general customer feedback is a good rule of thumb, and so are website statistics which show how long people spend on your site. We’ve got a good track record on that front – ‘bounce rates’ on our sites are always reduced significantly compared with the design we’re replacing. That’s a point of pride!

MATCHING YOUR USP WITH YOUR MARKETING

New (and established) businesses often talk about their ‘unique selling propositions’, the infamous USP. In many ways the notion of this is one for business plans and meetings with your bank manager, but your great ideas need an really sound reception from your audience. So for me the ideal companion to a brilliant idea is marketing that matches it.

We believe a USP should be backed up by what we’re calling a UVP: unique visual proposition.

A great campaign or clever use of social media combined with a really memorable, unique web presence is a one-two punch that works every time in my experience.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING?

We’ve been talking in the office this week about the concern some customers have about commissioning new design work of any kind. There’s an uncertainty around spending money when the outcome is something that comes after the work has been requested.

A fairly sound way of ensuring everyone is on board with a custom design for your business is to work with ‘wireframe designs’ first. These are essentially a sketch showing the layout and how customers will travel through the site. This is part of a more modern way of working which moves away from the ‘ta-daaaah’-style big presentation and involves you as a client in the creative process from the outset.

I’ve shown a wireframe and finished design below, for our client The Value Engineers. This design had to be agreed by a team, which can be a tough one, but this process ensured the client was on board with our design from the outset.