Website Design – The Importance of Industry Relevance

A website’s design is very much influenced by the industry it is situated in. For example, you wouldn’t expect to see a floral design on a law firm’s website, nor a clean, minimalist design for a kids entertainment site. 

But why is this? 

To understand why certain styles and designs are better suited to specific industries, we have included some of our favourite examples where this is abundantly clear. Let’s delve deeper into these designs and the decisions made behind them. 

Wagg & Purr

We recently designed and built Wagg & Purr’s first website, behaviour specialists dedicated to providing expert cat and dog training in Norwich, Norfolk. Wagg & Purr’s goals and core values focus on a fun, friendly approach to training and this is what we were tasked with communicating via their website.

Enter the illustrative approach we took for Wagg & Purr. Originally we were using imagery for the visual elements, but after finalising the speech mark inspired logo, it felt right to keep this consistency throughout the website. 

A big part of Wagg & Purr’s personality is their love for animals, including their love for their own pet. To highlight this, we used Lauren’s – director of Wagg & Purr – own beloved companion, Poppy, as the face of the website. Many pet owners connect with each other over their four-legged friends, by featuring Poppy and other pets across the website, users are able to resonate with Lauren and these personable touches. The target audience is looking for someone who will take a gentle approach with their pets and who cares about their well being just as much as they do.

We always carry out background research and work closely with our clients before beginning the design of a website. Not only to correctly present the business online, but to also help users find the type of business they’re looking for to help with their search. 

Rockthorn

On the other end of the scale, we have Rockthorn who provide quality plant hire throughout the UK. Due to the scale of their target audience, it’s crucial that Rockthorn’s website is clear, displays their key plant hire equipment, and is easy to look through. 

Balancing what users in this industry need and what the company can provide was our biggest challenge here. For Rockthorn, we planned and designed an option which offers all the functionality of an e-commerce website, with the ability to add the equipment a user needs to their basket, select their desired dates and submit a quote request as opposed to purchasing then and there. This allows Rockthorn to contact the customer and form a more personable and long term relationship with their clientele. 

The design uses lots of square blocks and two bold colours to ensure absolute clarity for a user landing on the site. The majority of users won’t be too invested in illustrations or imagery of the company, the importance here is that users can easily find the equipment they need and get in touch with Rockthorn to hire them out, a trusted supplier of plant hire. 

Bluespace

As creative office designers, Bluespace needed a striking website which showcases their talented and innovative commercial designs. The opening sequence upon entry to the site is purposely delayed, to allow the user to take in the visual aspects of the website. This website is certainly an indulgent one, and rightly so, portraying their high end, luxurious office designs. Bluespace create bespoke designs and required a bespoke website to mirror that. 

The most popular section on the website is the case studies, and to no surprise, people want to see examples of the work they’re capable of before deciding if they’re the commercial interior designers for them. Because of this, we feature their most recent case studies on the homepage and these consistently pop up throughout the website. With delayed loads and animations throughout, the user quickly becomes familiar with Bluespace’s dynamic designs. 

CORE Technology 

We’ve recently had the pleasure of designing and building the website for CORE Technology who provide high quality security systems, automated living solutions and commercial technology installations… unsurprisingly, a fast moving and innovative industry, which would be no exception for the website.

For this design, we knew we needed to set the standard in the industry and decided to use the website to reflect the innovation standard of CORE Technology, and we think we got it spot on. With features such as the interactive cursor, parallax scroll and animated transitions, we quite literally needed to add an extra dimension to showcase the capabilities of this company.

Why is an industry relevant design important?

A design should be tailored to the desired audience and depending on your industry, this is unique to each one. Websites continually evolve over the years, as do user expectations, you need to ensure your website provides an experience bespoke to your industry and users which keeps up with this. 

As a business, optimising your website to fit in with the aims of your target audience is a sure way to raise conversions, put you one step ahead of your competition, and create a level of trust with users that you know what you’re doing. Putting across your unique selling points and incorporating a design that supports these is key to winning over your target audience. 

Here at Nu Image we can help and love nothing more than the feeling of creating a website that fully captures the personality of your company. We give our all and are always looking for a new challenge. If you need a bespoke website for your business then get in touch with us today on 01603 859007 to see how we can help you.