Recently we had the great pleasure of hosting a workshop for students on web design with Peter Franklin, CEO and managing director of Black & White Web Designs.

How to Design

After an interesting introduction about himself and how he started the web design business, Peter went on to demonstrate how their clients always mark the top spot on Google listings; without expensive paid adverts. Peter went on to explain how those ‘organic’ searches (SEO) work and what a website needs to get to be on top.

Students then learnt about the different types of websites and how they’re structured. Peter underlined the core of how people read websites, which can be achieved in 3 ways: pictures, text, pictures & text. The design needs to take you on a journey for you to stay engaged throughout. To get that full engagement from a customer, Peter showed us how each site needs to be validating the business it represents - adding credibility with a good collection of testimonials and powerful videos.

Students Turn

In preparation for the students’ turn to create the design for their websites, Peter went on to demonstrate different types of websites and for which clients they would be best suited:

Startup Website - around five pages for any business that needs an online presence or wants to grow or is working within a budget

Brochure Website - to promote a business, usually a minimum of ten pages and is easy for the potential client to navigate with a clean visual display to promote their business professionally online.

SEO Website - ideal for a business if they want a prominent position on Google and to be listed on all other search engines to gain new clients. Require a lot of content for those organic searches.

E-commerce Website - for businesses that sell online and need an integrated shopping cart and bespoke SEO to increase your online profits for your company

With students divided into groups, the creative work began to design a layout of their websites based on the above templates. Peter, with a very keen eye, guided each project that students were making and encouraged them to come up with very ingenious and novel ideas for their websites. We ended with quick presentations that displayed the students’ projects. Each group passed with flying colours!

Explore the design, structure and presentation of websites with our Web Design Workshops. Get in touch via contact@insiderlondon.com to book your visit today.