subject: Things To Bear In Mind When You Are Designing Property Websites For Clients [print this page] Designing property websites, you need to be able to do at least two things clearly and well. First you have to be able to support the actual business practices of the client that is you need to be able to develop websites that plug easily into existing databases, and which are capable of automating frequent or frequently problematic tasks. And second, you need to have the flexibility to design a website that plainly reflects the clients brand identity not just in terms of colour but as a full package design.
Property websites are, at base, roughly identical. In that they have a complicated job to perform plugged into a frequently changing database. But property companies, like all businesses competing for a market share, have things about their personality and their service supply that make them different from the competition.
It is these differences that must inform the successful website design. So if your property agency client is selling a brand that targets young first time buyers, for instance, then your web design is there to make that statement with clean fonts and attractive pictures. And with bold energetic colours that make the idea of owning property look dynamic and forward thinking.
Whereas your property websites designs for clients aiming at a higher end market must bring out a different side of the equation. Subtle colours, quiet fonts, a design and air similar to the menu in a fancy restaurant, because, here you are offering a choice of luxury items (or rather your client is) rather than a series of potential opportunities.
Wealthier end users already know why they are getting into the property purchase they are considering. So the whole design of property websites aimed at wealthier clients is, or should be, intended to reinforce that air of having already made an informed decision, by giving the properties plenty of space to sit in the site.
Think of it in the same way you would think, say, of diamonds on display at a high class jewellery store. Each piece is displayed in its own setting so the end user, the purchaser, can make decisions based purely on personal preference. Selling at this level, price and investment potential barely comes into it.
This leaves of course the upper and lower mid ranges of property websites and of course the most frequent type of all, which is the all bases covered site. Because most property agents deal with properties ranging from just under 100k to well over 1m, the average property site has to appeal to a wide selection of end users without alienating anyone.
So youll be likely to delivery property websites that look and feel familiar to the end user because they work in much the same way as all the other property websites they have used. The difference being that your design will have injected the appearance and overall branding of the client company into every page. So you make each site recognisably individual, while at the same time being familiar to operate.
