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Form v Function by N-Web Design

A web site may look good...

But does it do anything? I agree that any web site should (and many do) look good, but it should also be technically correct and informative.

A web site should be able to balance the 2 aspects of style and substance adequately for the purpose or expressing the nature and purpose of the site's intent.

Many sites do a poor job of both. Give the diversity of style and design available for web sites, it is amazing how many sites chose an inappropriate way of presenting information.

The purpose of a web site

The purpose of a web site is primarily to provide information to the visitor.

A web site should also:

  • Attract visitors
  • Communicate information about a company, products or services to the visitor
  • Be easy to read, understand and navigate
  • Project an appropriate company image to the visitor
  • Encourage visitors to return and interact
  • Increase the profile of the company with the visitor through brand and product awareness
  • Make the visitor comfortable with the owner of the web site
  • Provide knowledgeable and authoritative content within the web site, appropriate with the nature of the web site's business
  • Be of a technically correct structure

This may now seem like a far more difficult an involved task than previously thought. Suddenly, we need to make a site that looks good, has content, projects an image, attracts visitors, sells products and so on!

This isn't necessarily something that takes any more work than most of the confusing, under-achieving or poorly constructed web sites took to build. Nobody sets out to make a bad web site, and in most cases these [bad web sites] are mostly web sites with one or two small problems that are easily rectified with a little thought and implementation.

The processes involved when designing, building and publishing a web site are fairly well established and consistent. Developing the purpose of a site and designing the way users interact with information on the site is just as important as the layout and typography, choice of colour and branding. Design and build the fastest, most beautiful, most exquisitely crafted car in the world, but put the steering wheel under the seat, and nobody will buy one.

Web site visitor's expectations

Whilst brand and colour will identify a web site, give visitors familiarity and increase you brand profile, it is 'what goes where' on a site that will influence visitors' opinion of your site. Ergonomics in web sites are important, because people 'expect' certain elements to be in specific places, and if they are not, they will quickly dismiss your site as 'confusing' of 'unusable', and we don't want that, do we!

User's expectations pretty much tie our hands as to what we can put where on a web site and get away with it, but that doesn't mean we can't push the boundaries, make users amazed at our new, fresh and different approach and still fulfill their expectations.

Form v Function. The bottom line

Both form and function clearly have their place in web design, development and marketing. It is how we analyse and understand the role and function of the web site, our client's needs, image, brand and ambition, what the web site content will be and what we as designers and developers can do to enhance our products that is important in determining the use of design, layout and content in such a way as to maximise the impact and performance in our clients' investment in us and the internet.

How to contact us about web design solutions

Full details of how to get in touch with N-Web Design can be found on our contact page.

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