Welcome to this beginner's guide on website redesign tools and resources! If you're considering giving your website a fresh look, you're in the right place. Redesigning a website is a significant undertaking that involves more than just updating colors and fonts.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the entire process, from gathering initial feedback to choosing the right design tools and everything in between. Whether you're coordinating with stakeholders over Zoom, drawing inspiration from Behance and Awwwards or building mood boards to visualize your ideas, this will help you navigate each phase confidently and creatively. Let’s dive in and get started on transforming your website into something truly exceptional.
Gathering Input / Research Phase
The first step in a website redesign is all about gathering as much information as possible. This phase is critical because it sets the foundation for your entire project. We kick things off with a virtual meeting using Zoom or Google Meet, bringing together clients and stakeholders. This helps us capture valuable insights about what you like or dislike about your current site, directing our focus to where it's needed most.
For inspiration, we turn to Behance.net and Awwwards.com. Behance showcases a wide array of web projects, offering a plethora of visual and functional ideas, while Awwwards highlights sites that excel in user experience and innovative design elements. These platforms spark creativity and set a high bar for our designs.
Moreover, we compile mood boards that incorporate your brand’s visual elements, potential mega menus, image treatments, font choice, and color palettes. These boards help us visualize the direction and feel of the redesigned site, ensuring we align with your vision and brand identity.
Design Phase
Moving from research to design, our focus shifts from gathering data to creating visual output. At this stage, we heavily rely on Adobe Xd. Its seamless integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud apps—like Photoshop and Illustrator—makes it our go-to tool. Adobe Xd's intuitive interface and robust prototyping capabilities allow us to recreate complex interactions, such as button hovers and animations, which are essential for presenting concepts to clients.
Color and font accessibility are also top priorities during this phase. Adobe Color helps us ensure that our designs are beautiful and accessible, offering tools like a color contrast analyzer and palette generator. We utilize Google Fonts for typography, which supports a wide range of accessible and versatile web fonts.
Development / Build Phase
As designs are approved, we transition into the development phase, where these designs come to life. Here, HubSpot CMS is our preferred platform. It simplifies the building process with its user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and secure hosting solutions. Additionally, FontAwesome and SnazzyMaps enhance our web designs with stylish icons and customized maps, ensuring your site stands out while maintaining fast load times.
Feedback is crucial, and BugHerd streamlines this process. It allows stakeholders to pin comments directly on design elements, making gathering and managing feedback easier during the build phase.
Post Launch Phase
After your site goes live, our work continues with performance monitoring and optimization. Tools like SE Ranking and Page Speed Insights help us track SEO and page speed, ensuring your site looks good and performs well in search engines and provides a smooth user experience.
Ensuring Continued Success for Your Website
Redesigning a website is a comprehensive process that involves a deep understanding of both design principles and the tools that bring those principles to life. By using the right resources at each stage of your website redesign, you can ensure that your final product is visually appealing, functional, accessible, and optimized for success. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your existing site, we hope this guide provides you with a solid foundation for your journey in website redesign.
