What You Need to Know About WordPress Web Design

Wordpress is a great place to start when you want to build a website. Whether you are planning to work on your web design yourself or hiring professional web designers-- you need to make decisions that will help you in the long-run. WordPress has been around for a long time and it is one of the trusted names in the web development industry. There are many things you need to learn and understand about WordPress web design before beginning your journey to building up your online presence.

WordPress is a friendly platform even for beginners. However, there is a clear division between the work of an expert designer compared to that of a newcomer. You have to accept that experience plays a part in a good design, but if you have no background in design and you're still determined to create your WordPress web design on your own, this platform offers a wide range of templates for all sorts of industries. Templates are nice, but professional web designers and developers offer some design flexibility that ready-made designs can't offer.

Things to Remember About WordPress Web Design

Web design takes time to learn and it takes some experiences to master. It is an ongoing process of learning since the trends and tools are always changing.

So, if you are stubborn and you want to do your design on your own even if there are so many reasons why you should hire professional web designers-- then you will need some tips to get you through the process with your sanity intact. If you did hire professionals (excellent choice by the way), here are some things that will help you make decisions while planning with your web designers:

Premium Themes are Premium for Good Reasons

EVERYBODY loves freebies and don't you deny it! WordPress has many free themes for you to choose from. If you are planning to use it for a personal blog or if it is just a page that you don't really expect income from-- then sure, free themes are fine. However, if you are trying to reach a broader audience or if you want more functionalities, you will want to invest in a premium theme.

Free WordPress themes are pretty much like free WordPress web design, however, they are problematic in terms of functionality and code structure. Premium themes, on the other hand, are flexible and they have high-quality code. An assortment of functionalities and flexibility of design is significantly useful for business websites. Premium themes will make your life easier and your web designer will thank you for it.

Fonts Can Represent Your Brand

Fonts play a bigger part in your WordPress web design than you are probably aware of-- so this is a wake-up call. Your website font is part of your branding so make sure that you choose one that reflects your company or business accurately. For instance, you can use Comic Sans for your website, but if you are running a law firm, an accounting firm or any business that requires formal aesthetics then a font made for informal designs and children's books will not represent your brand well.

You want your website font to capture the personality of your brand, you also want it to make your page look reliable and trustworthy. Your WordPress web design expert can suggest some fonts, but you can also do your own research so that your designers can understand what they are looking for-- they may not say it but they hate it when clients make vague instructions.

Make It POP with Accent Colours

The comment "Make it POP!" means absolutely nothing if you don't give your designer any context of how you want to make things "pop". Now, this is both a design AND a feedback tip that you should keep in mind whether you are working on a website on your own or working with professional web designers. Use accent colours to make things pop.

For example, you want your visitor to notice a certain button on a website that is as dark as the deepest darkest pit of your worn-out soul or your black cat, then use a bright colour. This also works with links, headers, etc. One more thing, your website colours should be consistent with your brand colours. So, you can take the colours of your logo and use them as accents for some elements on your page.

Your Website Speed Matters

Your WordPress web design may be amazing, but if it loads too slow then understand that your visitors won't wait. The age of the internet is the age of speed. Your visitor needs the information NOW. According to Google, people get bored after 3 seconds of waiting for a website to load. So make sure that you put the loading time of your page into consideration when working on your website.

Your designer or developer may know a thing or two to ensure fast loading speed. You can also look for methods, plugins, and tweaks that can help your site to speed.

Your Logo is the Face of Your Company

Whenever you see the Golden Arches, you think of McDonald's immediately-- this is what you want. You want your target market to recognise you by your branding and your logo is one of the cornerstones of your branding. It represents your company, values and ideas. Your logo should be unique, flexible and scalable.

Using a Child Theme is Better than Modifying Default Theme Files

If you want to challenge your designing and coding prowess or push yourself to sell your soul to the web dev gods, then go ahead and modify default theme files. Even if you invest in premium themes with high-quality code structure and flexible framework, working with the default theme file will complicate things for you or your web developers.

Child themes make the process of adding or changing functions relatively easier. Why? Because they allow you to modify functionalities within your current theme without the risk of messing up your core files. Child themes make it easy for designers and developers to update a page without any hassle.

Responsive is the New Sexy

You will not find any tutorials, tips, or WordPress web design guides that do not emphasise the importance of website responsiveness. Keep in mind that people can access your page in more than just one device. If you want to keep them engaged and interested in your website, you need to make sure that they will feel comfortable navigating your page. Responsiveness will allow your visitors to have a smooth experience transitioning from one device to another.

Since smartphones are gaining more popularity, make sure that your website is accessible to people on their handheld device.

The Takeaway

Regardless of whether you're planning to design your own website or to hire WordPress web design experts, understanding the items above can help you move along. If the purpose of your website is to boost your business performance and to broaden your reach, then investing in a premium theme is a good idea. You should pay attention to branding elements like your font, colours and logo-- they will represent your company so make sure that they do so accurately.

The process does not have to be a long and winding road, make your life easier by using the right tools like child themes instead of complicating your life by meddling with the core files. Lastly, you should also make sure that you don't complicate your visitors' lives. Make sure that your pages load fast and that they are accessible across all devices.