Common Mistakes by Graphic Designers in Web Design

Whether you are in Sydney or anywhere in the world, a visually appealing and technically sound web design is a must for businesses to implement online marketing strategies. Designing for print and designing for a website are two different things and have different sets of rules that need to be followed by the designers. While there is no restrictions on a graphic designer doing a website, more often than not the graphic designers forget to implement some of the key elements of web design or use some techniques of print design which do not work in web design.

A professional website designer is aware of the things that work for a website and facilitate its online visibility. However, a graphic designer often commits certain mistakes that can adversely affect the performance of the website. Discussed below are some of the common mistakes that graphic designers make while designing a website-

• Lack of web design skills- This isn’t really a mistake on part of the graphic designer. After all he is just a graphic designer and not a website designer. But because he is venturing into the field of web design, he has to acquire new skills that can help him get an edge of being not only a good graphic designer, but also a good website designer. Most of the graphic designers are not aware XHTML/HTML/CSS/JavaScript and other related languages that are a must for website designers. Lack of such knowledge can adversely affect your profile and also the design output.

• Not designing in Photoshop- Most of the graphic designers are used to working with the Illustrator. However, in web design, Photoshop should be used because it helps in creating and manipulating raster graphics. In Photoshop you are designing for pixels not for a number of minute decimal increments as you would in Illustrator creating vectors.

• Absence of home link in the navigation- The main object in graphic design is communication through visuals. However, usability and functionality are features of web design, so the designer must take care of that while building a website. Ignoring the Home button link on the web pages is a common mistake that the designers make.

• Lack of footer information- Footer is an important area of a website and can be used for providing a lot of information for the visitors. Yet many times, the designers ignore or underutilise this potentially important area of the design. Even from search engine optimisation point of view, footer can be used for repeating important links of different web pages, providing contact information, copyright and social media links, besides other information.

• Using ‘graphic design’ fonts- Graphic designers are very fond of using their chosen fonts, but using them in websites is a complete no. There is a huge difference between the fonts used in print and web and so the designers should stick to the ones that are good for websites.

• Not designing all the elements- Each element of a website, be it the masthead, the logo, bullet buttons, social media icons or the footer, has to be designed with a common theme in mind. Many designers just ignore these aspects, and that makes the site look incomplete or imbalanced.