If you are engaging a Hemel Hempstead web design agency to overhaul your business website, then make sure that you keep it looking good with a fit-for-purpose corporate style guide once it is live.
Communicating the brand
Your designers and developers will need to be able to understand your brand to ensure that it is represented correctly on the website; therefore, you should define and articulate this carefully, referring to the corporate brand guidelines as necessary. Pre-coded and on-brand assets are well worth developing in a template system.
Graphical elements
Make sure that requirements for typography and imagery are included, taking into account any visual styles that include illustrations, infographics or other graphical devices. Some designers believe that typography delivers up to 95% of a digital experience.
Design elements
Other design elements should also be defined, such as the use of forms, buttons and spacing. The latter is actually hugely important to help to create a sense of space and brand experience. This can be defined by the use of grid layouts and will determine how much spacing is used between each visual element on the page. Again, template pages can be useful for maintaining consistency.
The colour palette
Define the colour palette, using the brand guidelines, and keep it minimal. A tertiary and secondary colour palette are useful as an adjunct to the primary palette, but ensure there is a sign-off process to keep visuals on-brand. Remember that you can access professional web development and design at great rates when you use a company such as 24-7website.co.uk.
Tone of voice
The tone of voice (TOV) is essential. If you have corporate guidelines in place for your brand, there is likely to be a TOV document that defines how fun, cheeky, corporate or serious you need to be with those ‘404 error’ messages! Include examples of well-written copy and define any jargon or key words that should and should not be used. This will help digital copywriters for SEO purposes.
FAQs
A final useful section to have is a series of FAQs and examples of what constitutes good and bad practice within your guidelines. Include visuals to help users to rapidly get to grips with expectations.