When you look around the internet these days, you’ll quickly notice that almost all websites look the same.

This is something we constantly battle at Designli. Our clients’ websites are made to be as unique and groundbreaking in style as possible. This attention to detail shows: we are constantly getting compliments on our portfolio of website and app designs. As our range of styles in our portfolio increases and we’re able to show off more and more, we think it’s time to give this same in-depth thought to a massive overhaul of the Designli website. After all, where better to show off than your own website?

As many companies do, Designli’s internet presence started simple. Our goal was to communicate what we do as quickly as possible and show all vital information and portfolio items on a single, scrolling page. Although basic and without much “pizzazz,” this got the job done and it got it done fast.

In this blog post, I hope to show what happens when our talented team sits down and lets creativity flow, reimagining our website from the ground up. The main goals we are focusing on are outlined below so that our readers can not only read through the thought process of this redesign, but also apply some of the same principles to their own projects. You’ll notice that our new website is not quite done nor is live on the internet; we are approaching this project with OCD-like nit-pickiness, which makes for quite the long process, but we think you’ll agree that it’ll be worth it in the end! In the meantime, let’s learn together what is worth focusing on with a website redesign, and how our own focus-points can be formed into generic “principles” that can be applied to your own project.

Goal 1: Strut Your Stuff.

A website redesign is a golden opportunity to show off what you (or your design team) are capable of. With our new website, we want to show off our custom illustration skills – as creating beautiful and engaging illustrations is something we aren’t asked about as often as we would like. Think of your website as your best opportunity to show off your skill set that you think is most impressive. Don’t hold back!

We’re focusing on a large header image that is a custom illustration: a cityscape with the Designli logo featured front and center.

As the user scrolls down our new site, they’ll be going underneath the surface of this city. At the very bottom of the page, at the footer, they’ll come out the other side, into an ocean oasis: another beautiful illustration seen below.

So, what is the takeaway? If your team is great at custom illustrations, use illustrations. Use your website as your walking, talking (kind of) resume.

Goal 2: Explain Service Offerings Front-And-Center.

This is a great takeaway that we’ve learned over the last few years. On our current website, you’ll notice that our slogan – “Creatively Bold. Humbly Priced.” – is featured prominently on our website.

What we’ve come to notice, though, is that this slogan doesn’t necessarily scream “APPS!” It’s plastered on our business cards and on all our social media; yes, we do websites, graphic design, branding, and marketing materials of any kind…but we strive to be known as the app guys. How are we making this happen with our new website? You may have already noticed, but if not, it’s all about the main header text immediately under the brand name. “We Build Apps for Startups and Entrepreneurs.”

Now there’s no room for leaving an inaccurate impression, even if a visitor only spends a few milliseconds on our website.

Goal 3: Don’t Be Shy: Explain Why You’re Better.

Some people (well, probably most people) highly dislike the guy that does nothing but brag on his LinkedIn profile. But for your website, it’s entirely encouraged to flat-out shout why you beat out the competition. Why are you better? Don’t leave this up for interpretation. Don’t say anything along the lines of “well, you’ll find out why we’re better once you work with us!”

Front and center on our new homepage will be a section dedicated to explicitly stating why Designli is the best choice when seeking out an app development company.

Goal 4: Stay Fun!

Maybe it’s just the mobile app development industry, but we’ve noticed that nobody wants to work with a stiff, joyless team. Most folks respond much better when there is some human aspect to what your business is offering, as it makes you – and your team – more relatable and accessible.

To help get this fun vibe across for our new website, we decided to try something different and illustrate the faces of our core team members. Even better, we decided to leave out any real facial features and instead only show our hair….facial, on our head, or otherwise. The result is quite unique and we’re excited to hear our clients’ reactions (how much does this actually look like us? You be the judge!). We won’t lie; these illustrations made Jake self-conscious that his eyebrows are too thin, and myself self-conscious that my mustache doesn’t connect to the rest of my facial hair like everyone else’s. Who knew?!?

With that, we’ve hit our main goals that we’ve focused on during our Designli site redesign. These are good thoughts to keep in mind for any website design, and we hope you’ve found them helpful!

I’ll leave you with some screenshots of what our new website will look like in full, since all we’ve disclosed thus far have been small portions of the full pages. Feel free to reach out to us personally to let us know what you think! As usual, simply click on the thumbnails to expand. You may have to then click on them again to zoom to full size in your browser.

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