How To Design a Website in 9 Steps (2024) – Shopify

Sara Mote and I founded MOTE agency in 2014. We specialize in ecommerce, providing refined design, cutting-edge engineering, and the highest order of service to an ever-changing marketplace. In my career as a web developer, I’ve fostered an appetite for innovation and a focus on crafting websites for brands that want to cultivate enduring relationships with their audiences. Here are some insights gleaned from my 26 years of experience.

Designing a website is as easy as you make it: It isn’t necessary to be a professional web designer or developer to create a great website for your brand. With a drag-and-drop website builder, a basic website theme, and an understanding of your target audience’s needs, you can DIY your own beautiful, intuitive site.

Read on to learn how to design a website yourself and get examples of websites to inspire you along the way.

How to design a website

1. Brainstorm
2. Select a platform and template
3. Make branding decisions
4. Start customizing your template
5. Create a baseline grid
6. Add content
7. Establish consistency across channels
8. Test and measure
9. Know when to bring in a professional

The exact steps you take to build a website will depend on the type of site you create and the website-building platform you use. Here are some basic guidelines that apply to almost any drag-and-drop website builder:

1. Brainstorm

The first step in the web design process is to take a step back and think about what messaging you want your site to convey and what actions you want visitors to take. Knowing those core purposes of your site will help you figure out how to best present that information.

Consider the following questions to guide your brainstorming:

• Audience: Who is this website for? How will you connect with your target audience?

• Inspiration: Find examples of existing sites you like. What do you like about them?

• Content: What content do you need to tell your story? Text? Images? Video?

• Priorities: Where on your site will users spend the majority of their time? Your product collection? Blog? Homepage?

As you answer these questions, think about how you can provide users with the information they need on each website page without overwhelming them. It may seem quaint, but a useful way to get ideas out of your head is to move away from screens and go analog with pen and paper. Create some rough sketches of how you want your website to look and feel, focusing on where you expect users to spend the majority of their time.

2. Select a platform and template

With your pen-and-paper sketch, you should have a good idea of the features your site will need. That step will help you more easily select a website builder and drag-and-drop design template.

For example, if you want to create an online store, Shopify’s free Dawn theme is a beginner-friendly place to start. Shopify is an all-in-one platform, which means a Shopify subscription offers access to domain names, web hosting, a website builder, payment processing, and everything else you might need to sell online.

Need a website for something other than ecommerce? Content management system WordPress is popular with bloggers, and Wix is a solid option for quickly creating a portfolio. Compare the features, costs, and available themes of different website builders to find a no-code website design tool that works for you and your unique needs.

3. Make branding decisions

If you already have brand guidelines, you’re a step ahead. If not, you’ll need to make some branding decisions before you start customizing your website template. Whether you’re creating an ecommerce website or a personal portfolio, keeping your font and colors consistent will add personality and legitimacy to your site.

Fonts

Start by choosing your brand’s fonts. Choose a body font that is legible. With the header font, there’s a little more room for experimentation, but the words should still be recognizable.

Your font choices can convey mood and personality while establishing a framework for your website. Your body font will help determine your website’s grid—the line spacing, column width, and horizontal and vertical padding that will create a sense of rhythm within the site.

Keep your font selections to a minimum to avoid an overwhelmingly busy site experience. Beginners should stick with a maximum of two types of fonts that complement one another: one font for headers, one for body text.

Color palette

With your font in place, you can move on to your color palette. For maximum legibility, a black-and-white color palette is often best. But there’s still an opportunity for branding within that range of shades: An off-white can be warm or cool, and charcoal can replace pure black for a less severe feel.

Whichever colors you choose for your brand palette, it’s wise to use high-contrast colors for better web accessibility. It helps to brush up on color theory to get a clearer sense of which colors work best together, as well as how to evoke different moods with color psychology.

4. Start customizing your template

The same template could be set up in an unlimited number of ways. You can make it look completely different depending on the fonts, colors, and other options you select. Many website builders, including Shopify, have the ability to automatically apply branding decisions like colors, fonts, and logos to your entire site. If your builder offers this feature, it’s a great place to start with no-code website customization.

5. Create a baseline grid

The vertical and horizontal guidelines that form the foundation of a web page’s layout is referred to as its baseline grid. Using a grid layout helps create a cohesive visual hierarchy and gives you an outline for where you will place the different elements of your site. Your baseline grid should correspond to the height of your body font, which is why it’s important to choose your fonts before delving into this step.

Your website template may have a default grid that you can modify, if needed. If you’re using a drag-and-drop website builder, you should be able to preview changes you make to your template. As you tweak your grid, check how it looks on desktop versus mobile devices. If your site has responsive design (which is built into Shopify themes), the number of columns will automatically decrease in response to the user’s screen width. If the majority of your site visitors will be coming from mobile, you may want to set your default preview to mobile to streamline this step in the design process.

6. Add content

Based on your pen-and-paper sketches, start adding content to your branded website template.

Website content should typically include elements like:

When you add content to your web pages, you can determine the top and bottom padding—how much space you leave between elements. By using the same padding numbers (or multiples of those numbers) throughout the site, you’ll create a sense of vertical rhythm as visitors navigate your site.

7. Establish consistency across channels

If your website links to or from other platforms, like your social media accounts, it’s important to account for cross-channel harmonization.

For example, let’s say your Instagram branding is completely different compared to your website branding. If someone finds your site via your Instagram account, they might have a confusing user experience due to those inconsistencies. In that case, even if your website is beautiful and functional, your erratic branding between platforms may erode your audience’s trust in your brand.

But if you establish cohesive branding across platforms, you’ll create a more consistent user experience (UX) wherever your audience encounters your brand.

8. Test and measure

Whenever you make changes to your site, such as adding a video or a third-party plug-in, check how those changes affect your core web vitals. Core web vitals are measurements of how well your site functions, such as how long it takes to load. Core web vitals aren’t just important for UX. They’re also a key part of search engine optimization (SEO) since search engines deprioritize sites with poor core web vitals.

If you check your core web vitals before and after every change, you’ll know exactly which website elements may be causing performance issues. That data will empower you to make the appropriate changes with confidence.

9. Know when to bring in a professional

If you do eventually decide to hire a web designer to further customize your site, your initial DIY experience with the web design process will come in handy in that collaboration. Your hands-on experience with your website template will help you articulate what’s missing from it and give you the language needed to better communicate with a professional designer. That will help you both achieve your vision more efficiently.

Ecommerce website design example: Klur

Skin care company Klur is a great example of how a minimalist approach can result in a strong site experience. Klur’s web design choices create a serene vibe, putting website visitors in the relaxed mindset of a luxury self-care ritual.

Klur coordinates its branding across touchpoints. For example, it uses variants of a single typeface for both its product packaging and website. If product packaging doesn’t apply to your brand, consider other ways you can create cross-channel harmonization, like using the same font for your business card, email signature, and website.

Editorial website design example: Unconditional Magazine

Unconditional Magazine’s digital complement to its print magazine evokes a sense of visual ease while engaging the viewer on an emotional level. The clear navigation menu makes it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for, but if you’re in the mood to explore, you can simply scroll down to reveal a curated selection of images linking to past issues.

A large hero image on the homepage is a great way to immediately immerse site visitors into your brand world, regardless of your industry or business goals. Periodically changing your hero image is also an easy way to refresh your website without altering any of the core branding or functionality.