Web Design 101
By Ilze Hugo
Originally published in High-Flyers Magazine, Issue 17.
If a company doesn't have a website in today's tech savvy market, it's almost as if they don't exist, says Jean-Pierre Mouton, co-owner and lead interaction designer at web production studio, Shapeshift: 'A website gives you credibility. Being online shows that you're reputable, that you're not a fly-by-night.'
But while it certainly helps, just being online isn't enough. Your site needs to look good and work well too. Consumers are becoming increasingly web savvy and can spot a badly designed website a mile away, warns Riaan van der Westhuizen, a web developer at full-service digital marketing agency, Hello Computer. Just as not having an online presence can be bad for business, a shoddily designed site can also do damage: 'If you've got a brand experience online and the text is too small, it creates frustration for the person interacting with that data,' explains Mouton. A scrollbar or a link that is broken will irritate potential clients, leading them to assume that dealing with your company will be equally frustrating. A bad website says simply: You're incompetent.
The Web - Ready for the Real World
Human civilization has been around long enough to have established many different political, social and business structures. Technology has developed along with these systems and is still ever-changing. The wheel has been around since before records began, steam has given way to electricity and there seems to be no end to what may still be possible.
