What Does a Web Designer Do - Understand the Scope of Web Design Services

Since website design is such a complex process, it can be difficult to understand the scope of web design services. So, what does a web designer do, exactly? We’re here to explain. 

But before we get into how web design works, let’s answer one of the most frequently asked questions small business owners ask themselves: do I need a professionally designed website?

Well, we’ll let you decide.

• 38% of visitors will stop engaging with a website if the design is unattractive, and 48% say the design of the website is the most important factor in determining a business’ credibility (Blue Corona)
• 98% of people who’ve had a bad website experience will shop with a competitor (Web FX)
• 61% of consumers plan to spend more time online post the covid-19 pandemic than before it (Salesforce)

And the list of stats goes on. With more people online than ever before, more websites, the standard for web design is very high. If you want your business to succeed, you must have a well-designed, technically optimized and mobile-friendly website.

If you’re reluctant to hire designers and developers, due to the amount of time and money this requires, you can still try to create your own website or landing page with the help of some online tools. Wix and Shopify are among the most popular website builders, while Elementor and Instapage are just a few of the many great platforms for creating landing pages.

If, however, you want something that looks professional, is user-friendly and perfectly captures your brand image, then you will need to hire a design professional for the job.

What does a web designer do?

So, you’re looking to hire someone to create a brand new website for your business. Does that mean you can simply let them get on with the work and end up with a live website? Not quite.

Let’s take a look at website design tasks that are the responsibility of a web designer.

Research

No design project comes out of thin air. After the client has done the necessary research in order to write a good design brief, a designer also needs to dedicate time to find relevant projects and research competitor websites (remember, professional designers will be able to get a different insight than you regarding design).

Wireframing

Wireframes are visualizations of the basic look and layout of your web pages, and together they create a complete sitemap. This is a critical step in ensuring that the website goals are evident for anyone landing on it.

This is often something whole design teams work on together: UI designers ensure that the layout makes sense and that the site provides visual guidance for visitors. UX designers are concerned with information architecture, or grouping the information in a way that helps visitors have the best experience.

Content creation: client/marketing team

While the design is without any doubt critical for the success of any website, without SEO it definitely won’t rank well in search engine results. Meaning, potential clients won’t even have the chance to discover your beautiful website.

Before the website can actually be designed, designers need to have all the copy at their disposal.

While minor changes can be made after the design is finished, adding or removing large blocks of text can disrupt the balance and layout, and require the designer to start all over.

Creating the content for the website is the job of digital marketing teams, as these professionals will have the knowledge of relevant search engine optimization techniques and industry trends which need to be included in the web design.

Graphic design

Finally, your team is ready to start working on the actual graphic design part. For this part, they’ll need to have access to your brand guidelines, to ensure that the website matches the overall look and style of the brand.

There are many web design tools out there, and you ought to specify whether you have a preference beforehand. Here are some of the most popular programs for web design:

• Adobe XD
• Figma
• Sketch
• InVision

We’ve already talked about the importance of written content for your website, so it’s time to take a quick look at just how important visuals are in creating the perfect experience. In fact, it’s since we only remember about 20% of what we read, and 80% of what we hear, relaying key information in a visual manner is a great way to ensure a positive user experience.

This is where graphic design skills really pay off. Stock photos and product shots are great, but creating custom visuals that tell site visitors what your business is all about is another level altogether.

Another thing that a professional UI designer will have in mind is the importance of load time. Around half (47%) of consumers expect a website to load within 2 seconds, while 40% abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.

All the graphics and images used on your website need to be of high quality, but remember that they should also be optimized (or compressed) for web use, so as not to slow the website down.  

Information architecture

While the designer isn’t responsible for creating the copy used on the website, they can make decisions on how to present the text.

The way information is grouped and presented on the website is called information architecture.

This might mean the organization of entire pages, or how specific chunks of text are presented within the page. Bear in mind that this is rarely something a web designer does (or should do) without any input from the client. In order to understand how to create information architecture, the client needs to provide web designers with the following information:

• Who are the users?
• What is the content?
• What is the context?

Responsive design

In a world where over half of Internet traffic comes from mobile devices, the need for responsive design cannot be overstated.

Responsive design means creating websites that adapt and respond to different screen sizes, devices, and orientations. The goal of responsive design is to provide an optimal user experience regardless of whether a user is accessing the website on a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

From using the right kind of fonts (web vs. system fonts) to anticipating how content will be scaled to smaller screens, and optimizing images and media for web use - there’s much more tweaking involved than a simple piece of graphic design. Although  web developers execute the scaling, web designers provide guidelines on how the content should look on a different screen. 

User experience design (interaction design) 

Although technically everything we’ve talked about thus far falls under the umbrella term “user experience design (UX)” , it’s worth understanding what this concept is all about in a bit more detail.

When a designer creates packaging for a product, apart from aesthetic considerations (what will draw consumers attention, what’s the brand identity, etc.) they also have to think about the protection of a product, transportation, etc.

User experience design works similarly in web design. Aside from making sure the website looks good and professional, one of the most important web designer responsibilities is to ensure the website is enjoyable to use. Some aspects of a positive UX in web design are:

• Intuitive Navigation: Clear and easy-to-use navigation menus that help users find the information they need quickly and effortlessly.
• Fast loading speed: Optimized website performance with fast loading times, minimizing user frustration and abandonment.
• Mobile-friendly design: A responsive design that adapts to various devices, ensuring a seamless experience on smartphones and tablets.
• Visually appealing design: A visually attractive design with a consistent and aesthetically pleasing layout and color scheme.
• Clear call-to-action (CTA): Obvious and well-placed CTAs that guide users towards desired actions, such as sign-ups, downloads, or purchases.
• Accessibility: Design elements that accommodate users with disabilities, ensuring that everyone can access and interact with the website.
• Error handling: Informative error messages and helpful guidance when users encounter errors or issues on the website.
• Consistency: A consistent design across different pages and sections of the website, providing a sense of coherence and familiarity.
• Feedback mechanism: Providing ways for users to offer feedback, report issues, or contact support, showing that their opinions and concerns are valued.
• Fast and efficient forms: Streamlined and user-friendly forms with clear instructions, making it easy for users to complete their tasks.
• Loading progress indicators: Displaying loading indicators during processes that may take some time, indicating to users that the website is actively working.

Personalization (when appropriate): Tailoring content or recommendations based on users' preferences and behavior, enhancing their experience.

What doesn’t a web designer do?

Hang on a minute, if you’re looking to hire a web design agency, can you expect to get a finished website that’s live and ready to use? What does a web design agency do, anyway?

Well, if you hire a web design agency - the tasks from the list below are usually included in the project price. However, if you hire a web designer freelance, their services are usually limited to the tasks outlined above.

Although bear in mind that web design scope of work often depends on the agreement with your service provider. Some freelance web designers may also offer development services, but there are also agencies that stick to design and development, and won’t help out with tasks like copywriting. 

Still, if you’re looking for an answer to the question “what does a web design agency do”, apart from the design tasks mentioned earlier, here are some of them.

Market research

No matter how vital a website is to the success of any business, a web designer is not a business strategist. 

Before a designer starts working, or before you even consider hiring a designer, you need to properly identify the purpose of your website. 

It’s easy to see how a SaaS business that operates fully online will require a different website than, say, a local coffee shop. In order to properly define your website’s purpose, you should answer the following questions:

1. Who is your target audience
2. How will they use the website: (for information about the business, purchase, online tools, etc.)
3. Is it a website or landing page: if you need a company website, you might need to include all the relevant background information about your business; in case you just need a page for a product or campaign
4. In the case of a landing page, what is the main call to action (CTA)

There are many more questions you might want to consider such as how are you different from your competitors, or what kinds of feelings do you want to evoke with website visitors. However, the 4 points mentioned above are absolutely essential for properly identifying your website goal.

Content creation 

While the design is without any doubt critical for the success of any website, without SEO it definitely won’t rank well in search engine results. Meaning, potential clients won’t even have the chance to discover your beautiful website.

Before the website can actually be designed, designers need to have all the copy at their disposal. 

While minor changes can be made after the design is finished, adding or removing large blocks of text can disrupt the balance and layout, and require the designer to start all over.

Creating the content for the website is the job of digital marketing teams, as these professionals will have the knowledge of relevant search engine optimization techniques and industry trends which need to be included in the web design. 

Site development

Just in case you might be wondering about this, most UX/UI designers aren’t developers; meaning that while they are in charge of building a website, they can’t actually get it to work.

Web development requires knowledge of coding languages such as CSS or HTML, and there are specific professionals who do this, called web developers.

Since web development is more of a technical, and less of a creative process, expect to pay less for this part of the process than web design. If you require a very simple website (without things like web apps, dynamic content etc.), you can find affordable development services on many freelancing platforms.

Testing and maintenance

Long gone are the days where you could just launch your website online and wait for prospective clients to find you. Nowadays, if you want anyone to discover your business, you’ll need to update your website regularly.

Most importantly, this means content marketing efforts, which help to improve your search engine ranking. Still, there are also a number of technical details that you need to stay on top of, such as broken or outdated links, software updates, mobile responsiveness, security and backup, and more.

As you might tell, most of these tasks fall into the responsibilities of the development/tech team. Of course, a lot of the time (especially with content creation), you will need the assistance of a web designer. 

Below, we’ll outline a few options on where you can find web designers to work with.

Where to find web designers?

We hope this answers your question “what does a web design agency do” and any confusion about web designer responsibilities. 

Still, there is more than one way to get your website designed. If you have a generous budget, hiring a reputable web design agency is a solid choice. Although you will still need to provide some guidance, these professionals will handle most of the work around the creation and launch of your site.

Hiring a freelance designer is much more inexpensive, but bear in mind that the cost of web design can sometimes be unpredictable with this route. Since website design is a complex project, multiple revisions and additional working hours can rack up quickly.

If you have a bit of design skill yourself, there are numerous great website builders that allow you to create your own website, often for free! The downside of this approach (aside from the time you’ll spend designing your website) is that it’s easy to end up with a website that doesn’t look original or doesn’t match your brand identity.

Finally, if you want to get a custom website for an unbeatable price, you should check out our unlimited web design service. For as little as $549 per month you can get your website designed, as well as graphics for different purposes: illustrations, social media, and more! 

Get started today with a 14-day money-back guarantee, or get in touch with us to ask any questions!