Continuous Enhancement in Web Design

In an age where a new trend can emerge and go viral overnight, it’s more important than ever to stay up to date. As web designers and digital marketers we need to keep our finger on the pulse across the board – from visual design, to the technology behind it and content. That’s why our website is living. Rather than being static it is continually being enhanced and updated. Below are some of the recent elements we’ve been working on and some ideas to help you keep your website fresh and on point.

Why is continuous enhancement important?

Continuous enhancement means regularly evaluating how your website is going —  what’s working and what’s not working about it — and always aiming to make it better. You might do user testing and find out users aren’t scrolling all the way down one of your main pages. Take that as a sign that you need to take action and make some adjustments. There are solutions out there to get better results – it’s just a matter of finding it.

Maybe you’re thinking that it would be easier to get a full redesign, be done with it and not worry about it again for another couple of years. Having a great website to start with is important, but if you make an effort to keep your site up to date, you have a higher chance of making a better impression on users. If you’re making small updates and keeping up to date, you might also be able to get away with keeping your site design for a longer period of time.

A website that hit the mark 6 or even 3 months ago might not quite reach it anymore for a number of reasons. Maybe there’s a new trend or feature that would be a great fit for your visitors, your company has grown or you’ve got a neat idea you want to try.This is your moment to do something about it, making sure you’re still proud of your website.

What we’ve been doing

At Matter Solutions, we have been doing just that. At the end of 2014, we overhauled our website with a new design, new build and revised content. We started the new year with a shiny new website.

A couple of months later, we started seeing elements we could enhance, or discovering cool stuff from other sites that we wanted to try ourselves. As a digital agency, we should be the ones showing users what you can do and how to do it well. So, we started having a look through our own website with a critical eye – in which areas could we perform better?

We took action.

Some of the updates we have done are minor elements that needed tweaking. Elements that don’t really get noticed, but you might notice when it’s done badly. We have also completed some bigger changes, like re-structuring whole pages and essential elements.

Header Re-styling

We recently made updates to our header to make it more engaging and visually appealing. Due to the shape of our logo, there was a lot of white space we wanted to use more effectively. With a search and promotional area, as well as some scribbled elements, we managed to achieve a more creative and exciting looking header. The full screen search feature is based off current trends that we wanted to try for ourselves.

Portfolio Improvements

We have also been looking at the website content and evaluating how we can design around it. When you’re creating a design based off finished copy, you get a better understanding of the page and how you can visually complement it with images, graphics and other visual styling. Taking this approach results in sections and styling that make more sense while sending a clearer message.

A big focus for us has been to improve our case study pages, displaying the work we do in a visual and engaging way. Adding in more images to showcase the finalised product, as well as outlining the process really helped this come a long way from the original launch of our website.

Further Enhancements

We are currently working on enhancing the training pages as well as doing updates to the contact page – further changes are ahead of us, and we’re continuously looking for something cool to add to the site!

Now it’s time for you to go back to your own website and evaluate. Is it old and weathered in need of a redesign, or is it fairly fresh, just needing a bit of a facelift to get up to the right level? Don’t miss out on a opportunity to make your website more appealing and competitive.