7 Key Steps of a Web Design Process
With all the mobile devices, getting a responsive website is a must. To obtain it, you should be aware of the responsive web design process. In this article, you will find:
- the steps required,
- the workflow you need to follow, and
- the tips that might be handy.
Though, following the process might sometimes seem boring, it doesn’t mean that you should be discouraged by this necessity. On the contrary, a detailed guideline might really be handy when it comes to the development of a website for your project. You can hire a team of developers or do it yourself if you have the required experience and expertise. In any case, some things just cannot be excluded from the picture.
The responsive web design development process is quite logical and predictable. To start, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to receive at the end. In between, there will be a number of steps we are going to concentrate on here.
What is a Responsive Web Design Process?
A responsive web design process is the process that implies creating a website or web app design that is compatible with different devices and performs great on various screens in terms of an appearance and functioning. Below, we consider all the peculiarities and primary stages of this creative process.
Step by step website design process
Here is the sequence of steps projecting the effective responsive web design workflow. Even though they follow the best practices, you may make changes to adapt to your circumstances. However, they can also be used to guide you by. These steps are:
- Make sure you understand the basics of responsive web design
- Do an extensive search of great responsive web design examples
- Make the Web images responsive
- Consider responsive typed content
- Use media queries
- Define all your breakpoints
- Test your prototype
Keeping in mind this sequence, you are likely to have a nice and smooth responsive web designing process taking you to a successful result.
Step 1: Make sure you understand the basics of responsive web design
The first step in the responsive web design process is to understand what it is. This is by far the most important step and will be the determining factor of your successful implementation of this technology in your websites’ design.
Planning other steps will be easier and with a profound understanding of the adaptive website design process, you will create the complete guide. Here are some of the most important facts about responsive web design:
- Any website can adapt to the size of the user’s device.
- This adjustable visual layout has a constant URL and the content source does not change as well.
- It does not matter the device on which a page is accessed, it keeps a constant HTML code.
- You should always develop a solid wireframe before proceeding with the adaptive website design process.
By using the first step as a map, you will be able to proceed to the other website design steps.
Step 2: Do an extensive search of great responsive web design examples
The next step in the responsive web design process is to look at some of the best examples out there. Extensive research is required in order to understand the best practices in web designing.
Remember, your goal may be to improve your web design process for clients or use better skills for your own website. Looking at other people’s work is a good idea. Here are a few responsive websites to draw inspiration from:
The examples above are some of the best spots to check the responsive web design in 2021.
Step 3: Make the web images responsive
The next thing web designers have to know is making images more responsive. This means the image is supposed to scale and properly fit on any screen size. Here are a few points to help you understand it better:
- The width of the image – when using the width property in an HTML responsive design, a CSS width percentage of 100 means the image can scale up and down.
- Maximum width – another feature worth pointing out is the maximum width property of an image. If an image has a maximum width of 100%, it means it can scale down if necessary but it will never scale up.
- Different images appear on different screen sizes – this is one of the best tools in responsive web designing. It enables the designer to select a specific image for particular screen size. The images are already customized to a particular screen size requiring no more editing to make them suitable for the website.
Step 4: Consider responsive typed content
HTML responsive text size is usually set with a tool known as the viewport width (VW). The result of this manipulation is to help the text adapt to the size of any browser window it occupies. Because of the variety of screen sizes, making typed content look good is a bit tricky. As a designer, it is imperative to make sure that the lines of any typed document are not too long and can be comfortably read on all devices.
The term viewport is used to refer to the size of the browser window. Compared to the viewport size that is currently used, CSS has some smaller values that help web designers size typed content. A good example is VW. For this value, one unit represents one percent of the viewport axis. This means for a 60 cm viewport, the VW will be 0.6cm.
In typed content, that value represents the size of one letter. However, it is possible to make your own modifications until you are satisfied with the final look of any typed content.
Step 5: Use media queries
After tackling the images and text content of the website, the next step would be to define your media queries. This will allow you to create a different web design for every screen size. For example, you can make certain content appear in a vertical arrangement on smaller screens and in a horizontal display on larger ones.
Web visitors will still be seeing the same content because its HTML remains constant. However, the graphical changes are due to the applied CSS media queries. With media queries, the various parts of the CSS are applied to the website and they are quite specific for screen size. For the various parts of a media query to be successfully applied, certain breakpoints are required and we will look at the next.
Step 6: Define all your breakpoints
How does the web content change on specific screen size or automatically rearrange? This is the job of breakpoints. The breakpoints that are now commonly used have been developed to represent the most popular screen sizes for the devices currently in existence.
Every internet designer has to understand that there are so many screen sizes out there and creating a web responsive experience on all these screens is impossible. Additionally, the most popular screen sizes include those of devices such as smartphones, desktops, laptops, large tablets, and small tablets. Defining the breakpoints for mobile devices first is of great significance. And many clients of various businesses mostly use mobile devices to access websites.
Some designers target certain devices. This is not a recommended move when it comes to defining your breakpoints. It is hard to predict the devices that will be introduced in the future. Targeting one device is neglecting the development of the industry in mobile device design.
It is also important to mention that you can now set breakpoints for very wide resolutions. Website content has never looked better on widescreen televisions.
Step 7: Test your prototype
After prototyping, you have arrived at the last website design process step. To see if your responsive web design workflow was effective, you need to test the final product on multiple devices and make sure it does not disappoint you and your users.
It is advisable to start with one’s own devices to test the responsiveness of the website. This means using developer tools is totally out of the question. As a designer, you are more likely to understand the responsiveness of the website from the image to the text on various devices. This will, in turn, enable you to have a good idea of what web visitors on different devices are looking for.
When working with clients, it is important to find out the most common devices their customers use to visit their favorite channels. This information is very important. Having something to prioritize during the development process will keep the designer focused. Testing the responsiveness of a website should begin on the most popular device (different for various websites) available.
Web design process 2021: what’s new
It’s not like everything changes after the calendar changes one figure in a year. Changes happen all the time. One designer has a great idea; others want to do something similar. Boom! There is a new trend, and you need to take it into account. The process of creativity cannot be stopped; neither can the desire of people to see something new and unusual.
For example, in 2021, bold colors are timelier than ever. Designers take the risk and use colors that some time ago were considered too contrasting or too unsuitable with one another. Now the most powerful and influential brands can show unimaginable boldness.
Another trend is sustainable design. Environmental issues are being brought up by many different companies that are not even related to anything like that. Social responsibility and awareness are at their peak, which means that there are particular characteristics that communicate this philosophy to the website’s visitors. Bear in mind that all users tend to compare different companies with one another. That is one of the reasons to keep the design on the highest quality levels.
Basically, all of it only proves that there is much thinking to do before you start the responsive web design process. In each of the steps to design a website, you have to be aware of what’s going on in the world and what trends are considered to be beneficial for business. Without it, you risk being trivial and uninteresting even in your own industry. Luckily, there are many ways to prevent it in a responsive website design process and create a site that will win over millions of hearts.
However, even knowing the web design process steps and understanding why they are important, it is quite easy to get distracted. If you don’t want to miss anything at all website design stages or have any questions, let us know. At Fireart Studio, we know a lot about a responsive design process, and we love to share this knowledge.
