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AriaHelpDesk
Brand & Experience

Website Design

Designing marketing sites that communicate and convert: structure decided by what a visitor needs to know, and a design system the site can grow within.

Overview

Website redesigns usually begin with the wrong question. Everyone talks about how the site looks when the actual problem is that visitors cannot tell what the company does, or the information they need to decide is four clicks away behind a menu built from the organisation chart.

So the work starts with structure and content: who visits, what they need to know, and in what order. Visual design follows that. Sites designed the other way round look current for two years and never do their job in either of them.

Who this is for

  • Companies whose website describes them the way they describe themselves internally
  • Businesses with healthy traffic and few enquiries
  • Teams whose site has grown to hundreds of pages with no structure
What's included

How we approach website design

The specific pieces of work a typical engagement covers. Scope is agreed up front — nothing here is a surprise line item later.

  • Structure and navigation

    Built around what visitors are looking for rather than around how the company is organised.

  • Page design

    Key page types designed properly, with a clear hierarchy and the strongest claim visible without scrolling.

  • Content design

    Structure and copy considered together, since a beautiful page around vague copy is a decorated problem.

  • Design system

    Components and rules so new pages can be built without a designer and still look right.

  • Responsive and accessible

    Designed from the small viewport upward, with contrast and keyboard operation built in from the start.

  • Conversion paths

    Deliberate routes to enquiry, with the friction between interest and contact removed.

How it runs

From first call to measured result

The same sequence every time, so you always know what happens next.

  1. Understand the visitor

    Who arrives, from where, and what they need to know. Analytics plus sales conversations, not assumption.

  2. Structure

    Sitemap and page-level content structure agreed before any visual design begins.

  3. Design

    Key templates designed mobile first, then extended into a component system.

  4. Specify

    Hand over templates, components and states in a form a developer can build without interpretation.

Why it's worth doing

Outcomes, not deliverables

A pile of artefacts isn't progress. These are the changes the work is meant to produce — and what we report against.

  • Visitors who understand quickly

    Structure driven by visitor needs is what turns traffic into enquiries.

  • A site that can grow

    A component system means new pages do not need a designer and do not degrade the whole.

  • Works on a phone properly

    Designed from the small viewport up rather than squeezed down from a desktop layout.

  • A brief developers can build

    Specified components and states prevent the gap between design and build that produces disappointment.

Questions

Common questions about Website Design

The things people ask before they get in touch. If yours is not here, ask us directly.

How long does a website design take?

Six to twelve weeks for design, depending on the number of templates. Content is usually the critical path: sites are delayed far more often by copy than by design or development.

Do you build the site as well?

We can, through our web development service, or hand over to your developers with a specified component set. Both work; building it ourselves means fewer gaps between intent and implementation.

Our site looks dated. Is that the problem?

Sometimes, but more often the problem is structure and copy. A dated site that says something specific outperforms a current-looking one that could describe anyone. We would tell you if we thought the visual design was genuinely the issue.

How is this different from UI and UX design?

Website design is for marketing sites, where the job is communicating and converting. UI and UX design is for products and applications where people perform tasks repeatedly. The research methods and success measures are quite different.

Thinking about Website Design?

Tell us what you are trying to change. If we are not the right fit we will say so, and point you somewhere better.

Looking at the wider picture?

Website Design usually sits alongside other work in Branding & Experience Design. Browse the full area to see what it connects to.

All of Branding & Experience Design