08 Aug Should You Prioritize Web Design Over Content or Vice Versa?

It’s no question that both web design and web content are important for a successful website. None of you doubt that, and nobody can dispute that. Now, the problem arises from the dilemma of which of these important aspects needs to be prioritized.

On one hand, you can’t have really good web design without good content because there isn’t going to be much substance to keep visitors on your site. On the other hand, good web content that doesn’t have good design to represent it is going to be overlooked more often than not.

The ideal output is one where both design and content work together in a cohesive manner that creates a website that is not only a good representation of a business, but also one that provides value to its visitors.

One example of when web content and web design fail to work together is when images do not fit well with the website’s layout or when the text just seems to be too small to read, or when themes don’t match — like a government website using internet memes for images. Yes, those websites are out there.

So, how do you avoid making a mockery of your website?

You have to consider web design and web content as a whole. This does not necessarily mean that you do them simultaneously, but rather in steps that give one or the other a priority at a given step. You should have both your design team and your content team work with each other instead of each of them working separately in their own isolated bubble.

Planning Is Key

If you’re going to let your web content and web design teams work together, you need to map out the entire project, including estimated dates of accomplishment and what tasks need to take priority during a particular stage. This roadmap may be as specific or as vague as you want, but the end goal should always be specific — your launch date. Many web design services like leadtoconversion.com would be more than happy to discuss these details with you and your content team.

Use Management Software

By using project management software, you can more or less ensure that everyone is on the same page. They know the things that need to be done and when they need to be done. Management software is one of the most powerful tools that teams can have at their disposal. It grants them an overview of the processes that need to be performed and it allows them to collaborate in real-time, whether it’s to make necessary tweaks or corrections to output.

Set Milestones

Depending on the scale of your website, you need to determine whether you’re going to be meeting daily (if the project moves rapidly), every other day, or weekly (if the project moves at a slower pace because of its scale). Setting milestones allows you to assess if the project is going according to plan and it also allows you to tweak your process accordingly in order to compensate for factors previously unaccounted for. For example: an image might not fit properly with the rest of the site and therefore some adjustments need to be made.

At the very core of it all, even with all the latest software and the most skilled team members, if you really want to be able to create a website where its design and content fit like a hand in a glove, it’s of supreme importance to keep clear and open communication with and among your team members.