I rummaged around in the cupboard under my sink the other day to look for the window cleaner. I had a vague memory of what the spray container looked like and I knew it had a blue spray trigger lid. I found what I thought was the spray, grabbed it and sprayed the windows. I soon discovered that what I had actually found was a kitchen surface cleaner and on further investigation noticed that the containers for the window cleaner and the surface cleaner was exactly the same – apart from the label.
So what does this geekish domestic tale have to do with web design? It got me thinking about the number of templated web designs that are available and that are widely used by businesses.
A swapped logo here and a colour tweak there and hey presto you have a website right? Well maybe.
Websites should be designed for purpose and function as well as style and visual impact. Whilst you might get lucky with picking a template design, what you end up with isn’t original and bespoke to your business and more often than not will not serve it’s purpose of driving more leads and business or create much awareness. It’s also unlikely that the template will reflect your brand too well either. You also have no idea of who else (maybe you competitors) have opted for that very same template that you’ve chosen.
A template website might seem like a cost effective way of getting your business online but consider the hidden costs:
- Potential for poor usability
- Not unique to you and your business
- Your message has to be designed around the site
- Lack of brand identity
A good website design will pay for itself 10 fold so spend time planning and designing something that has your customers in mind. Better still, work with a dedicated web designer.
Agreed. Sure, it is possible to find a template that suits your needs and there are a lot of good ones available, but the vast majority of the time, templated websites don’t fit the purpose of the clients sites and look all to generic. Further more, many clients just don’t seem to understand that they are very restricted to what they can achieve with layout on templated web design – I often find it a real headache having to get out the metaphorical ‘design hammer’ and forcefully cram a clients brand and message into a preset template any which way I can.