Redesign can be quite a confusing process, so before starting it is important to make up a clear plan and decide on goals and means. In this article I want to list the questions that should be answered before you begin the work on a new site design.

1. What is the purpose of redesign?

What do you want to achieve? It is always important to clearly understand the reasons why you decided to change something, because it will influence any decision taken in the process of redesign. Not knowing the objectives of the project, as a result of redesign, you will likely get another not very good site.

2. You want to make a small change or alter all?

It is obvious that the means and time spent at work will largely depend on how significant the changes you want to make. If you decide to make a new design for the site, you should make it so that the patrons do not have the impression that they see it for the first time.

3. What features of the existing design are the most effective?

Perhaps some elements of the site work well and you decide to include them in the new version. It would be nice to compile a list of features of the site that you like and do not like to use it when creating a new design.

4. What features of the existing design are the least effective?

Identify the weaknesses of your site, to prevent their repetition in its new version.

5. Who are your target visitors?

You must not lose sight of visitors throughout the design of the site. To make the site effective you need to know as precisely as possible who your visitors are and what they want from the site, what design style they prefer.

6. How to make the site more friendly?

Improving of functionality and usability of the site is one of the main tasks of the redesign. If it looks great, but uncomfortable and non-functional – is a waste of time and money.

7. Do I need to make changes to the logo / branding?

Most likely your site has a logo and branding elements, if they are qualitative enough, and if they comply with your level, if they fit the new design? If the logo is not good enough it will be hard to make a good design to leave the old logo.

8. Do I need to change the color scheme?

In question number 2, I said that in most cases the new site should look familiar to regular visitors and the use of a similar color scheme is a one of the best ways to achieve it. To refresh your site it is enough to add some new colors or a slightly different shades.

9. What screen resolution do the visitors use?

It is important to know how the users are browsing your site. This information is readily available from statistical systems, for example, Google Analytics. It is particularly important to take into account the typical users’ screen resolution.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 8:34 am and is filed under Intersting, Must know. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.