If you work for a large company or corporation, you may well be familiar with the term ‘corporate web design’. If, like many people, you have often wondered how corporate web design can differ from ‘normal’ web design, you might want to consider the crucial aspects of corporate design compared to those used in other websites.
Every website needs to have an aim and a purpose. That purpose might be to get potential customers to call you or to buy from your website. For corporations, your website is all about your brand. A corporate website needs to portray your message effectively and professionally. Corporate websites aren’t often geared towards selling products, but towards establishing and promoting a brand and corporate message.
Web design and branding is more than your logo
You should involve your initial web design and branding team in the creation of your website, as corporate web design needs to include elements of your existing corporate branding. Simply creating a website with similar colours to those used in your logo or on your staff uniforms isn’t enough: people expect to see a coherent, cohesive message across all of your promotional material and your website is no exception.
Don’t be tempted to go too ‘cutting edge’ with your corporate web design. Visitors expect to find a particular type of website for corporations and will want to be able to find the information they’re looking for easily and effectively. If they’re bombarded with lots of flashing and moving objects they are likely to turn away very quickly. The web is incredibly fickle; you have to grab the user’s interest and keep it.
Corporate web design can also depend heavily on your industry. If you take Microsoft’s website, for example, their branding and colouring is used heavily. They display their latest products in a scrolling image block, making it easy for you to see what they have to offer. The website is kept simple, with a view to making their products easy to understand and therefore conveying their ease of use.
Apple’s website goes for an even more simplistic approach, with heavy use of whites and greys in order to convey a classy, simplistic feel. Products and sections of their website are extremely easy to find. Needless to say, both Microsoft and Apple are industry leaders in terms of technology and innovation and their websites are largely responsible for much of their success.
So, don’t be tempted to give your corporate website the same treatment as you would any other site. It needs to be treated very differently, and taking the right approach with a corporate web design company on board will ensure that your site is informative, innovative and impressive.
