The document provides guidance for businesses on establishing an online presence, emphasizing the importance of understanding the target audience through user personas and setting specific goals and objectives for web design. It covers key elements like content structure, visual identity (including logos, imagery, typography, and color), to enhance user experience. The document stresses the necessity of a cohesive brand presentation both online and offline for effective customer engagement.

1. ©We can imagine 2017
Am I Ready
To Go Online?

2. ©We can imagine 2017
to “Am I ready to go online”
Your online presents is a key part of your
business and is probably the first interaction
a person will have with your business.
What I want to give you here are a few
tips to get you started. In these guidelines,
you will get a basic set of tips on what to think
about before you create an online presents
for your business. I know in the web design
introduction video I said that this would be
a one page PDF, its actually going to be
seven. When I was writing the content for this
I felt that I would not be doing you justice with
a one page PDF. It will be a great reference to
you as you take your brand online.
Enjoy!
WELCOME

3. ©We can imagine 2017
Target Audience
Understanding who your website is aimed
at is an extremely important process. It will
dictate how you approach creating the
content for your website. A great way to get
an understanding of your audience is to
create a user persona. A user persona is a
profile of your customer, usually fitting onto
one side of A4 paper.
Some of the headings you could possibly
use for a persona are: Name, Age, ability
with using tech, personal background, marital
status. What you have in your headings will
all depend on the project. Creating these will
help you to get a deep understanding of your
customer and how your product or service
will fit into their lives.
Goals and Objectives
With any project, you need to know where
you are going and if you have reached your
destination. Setting goals and objectives for
your web design project is how you set the
destination for your project.
NON-VISUAL

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For a web design project, you may have
business, brand and design goals. A business
goal may be to increase profits. An objective
would be to create new services delivered
through the company website for the first
and second half of 2018. Goals are general
objectives are more specific. An example
of a brand goal would be to raise brand
awareness. An objective could be to create
a social awareness campaign.
Content structure
With any website, there needs to be a logical
flow of information on the site.
How you name your main navigation and
it’s supporting pages is key for a good user
experience. Knowing how to structure your
content is important.
The services of a Web Designer will help
you with this. There is some groundwork you
can do before this. Using Post-It notes or
flashcards you can work with the users that
you have identified from the user persona
and create a structure that they can navigate.

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A good simple and clear visual presence on
your website is fundamental to the overall
experience for your users. If the imagery
or typography is any way off-putting to the
person using the site, there is a good chance
that they will leave your site and seek services
elsewhere. Outlined below are four areas
of a brands visual identity that if created
consistently, simply and authentically will
help to improve the customer experience.
Logo
Your logo is the visual identifier that
differentiates your business from your
competitors. A good logo should work both
online and offline. If your company logo is
very complex there is a strong chance that it
won’t work that well on-screen.
Complex logo marks don’t tend to work
well when reduced in size, so that logo that
looks great over your shop door may look
completely different when viewed on
a mobile version of your web site.
VISUAL

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If your business logo is complex, and full
of intricate elements then you may need to
simplify these elements. A logo that is overly
complex tends not to work well online. Talk to
the Designer that created your logo and work
with him or her to simplify the logo.
Imagery
Having great photography on your site is a
key part of creating an authentic experience
for your customers. Research shows that
people pay more attention to the imagery of
real people as opposed to clichéd, staged
stock photography. If your budget allows you
to hire the services of a Photographer then
do so. If your budget does not stretch that far
then authentic stock photography is a good
second.
A possible option if you need to take photos
of your products is to take them yourself.
Make sure that you prepare beforehand.
There are plenty of tutorials online regarding
how to take product shots yourself with
a smart-phone or digital camera.

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Different weights of the
typeface: Avenir Next
©We can imagine 2017
Typefaces / fonts
Typography like imagery helps to create a
great experience for your customers. It is part
of your brand identity and a key part at that.
A well trained Web Designer will be able to
talk to you about using typefaces on your
site, but there are some things that you can
have in mind before you talk to the Designer.
Firstly the typefaces you use on your printed
material should be used on your site.
Secondly, the typeface you choose should
have a range of different weights/variations.
These weight variations will help you to create
a sense of hierarchy to your website and
printed material.
Lastly be careful with the weight of the font
you pick, as any font that too thin will be hard
to read on-screen. Thin fonts tend to break up
when used on-screen.

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Colour
If you have ever painted a room, you will
understand how important it is and how hard
it can be to choose a colour. The colour you
chose for the room will set the tone and you
will match the furniture to align with that
particular colour. The same type of thinking
will apply to your business website.
You are trying to create a mood with the
choices of colours used.
Your brand colours are part of your brand
identity and should be consistently used on
your website. Picking your brand colours is
a big part of developing your brand identity.
A Designer will help you to pick these colours
from a Pantone colour book.
Pantone is a worldwide colour referencing
system.
If you have any questions or would like to start a
design project, then send me on an email and we’ll
start creating that great brand experience.

9. ©We can imagine 2017email:hello@wecanimagine.ie | website: www.wecanimagine.ie
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