Web design requires a strategy

Most companies pour a lot of money into web design, only to end up with one thing: digital window dressing. If you think web design is just about ‘making things look nice’, you’re wasting your budget. A website that just looks good but doesn’t convert isn’t an asset – it’s a liability.

Web design is a strategic process comprising user understanding, structure and technical implementation – anyone who reduces it to mere aesthetics is undermining their own business objectives. In this article, we debunk the myth of ‘beautiful design’ and use hard-hitting benchmarks to show you why true performance looks very different.

Web design isn’t just about ‘making things look nice’

Don’t have time? Here’s the gist of what you need to know. Web design isn’t an art form, but an interdisciplinary craft that helps achieve business objectives.

• It is a system, not just an image: web design is a combination of visual design, information architecture, technical performance and user guidance.

• Function trumps aesthetics: if the user can’t find the checkout button, it doesn’t matter how modern the colour gradient is.

• Technology is design: loading times (Core Web Vitals) and accessibility (WCAG) are an integral part of design, not just ‘technical stuff’.

• Interdisciplinary work: Good web design can only be achieved when strategy, content, design and development work together.

• Evidence: Web Austria explicitly defines web design as a combination of design, structure and technical implementation. Anyone who delivers only one of these elements is not providing web design.

Does not apply if: You’re building a simple landing page for a short-term marketing experiment, where brand consistency and long-term viability are not a consideration.

What ‘web design’ really means according to the standards

Let’s stop arguing about taste. There are standards for what we do. And these standards aren’t there to stifle creativity, but to ensure quality.

Genuine web design follows the human-centred design approach. This isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a standard. ISO 9241-210 defines human-centred design as a process that focuses on users’ needs. It’s not about what the CEO likes. It’s about whether the user can complete their task.

The ISO standard explicitly requires:

1. Understanding users, tasks and environments.

2. Involving users in the process.

3. An iterative approach based on evaluation (feedback).

Then there’s the issue of accessibility. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 They aren’t just a nice extra for NGOs. They are the global standard that ensures your website is accessible to everyone. A website that isn’t accessible potentially excludes 15–20 per cent of the population. From a business perspective, that’s negligent. You’re voluntarily giving up potential reach.

At its core, web design means this: we solve problems for people through visual and technical interfaces. Anyone who ignores this is not practising web design, but digital painting.

Does not apply if: Your project is purely artistic in nature, does not fulfil any functional purpose and user guidance is irrelevant (e.g. an experimental web art installation).

Web design vs. UX vs. UI vs. web development – a clear distinction

One of the biggest misconceptions in boardrooms is the blurring of responsibilities. “Our web designer will sort that out.” No, he won’t. If you don’t keep these roles separate, you’ll end up with mediocrity.

Here is the clear-cut distinction, based on industry standards as used by platforms such as 99designs and CareerFoundry define:

1. UX Design (User Experience)

This is all about ‘How does it work?’. UX designers focus on the logic, structure and feel of the user experience.

• Focus: User research, wireframes, prototyping, information architecture.

• Objective: Smooth operations and problem-solving.

• Proof: According to CareerFoundry UX focuses on the user’s entire journey. A UI without UX is like a house without a floor plan – it might look good, but it will collapse.

2. UI Design (User Interface)

This is all about the ‘What does it look like?’. UI is the visual layer that builds on the UX structure.

• Focus: Colours, typography, spacing, interactive elements (buttons).

• Objective: Visual guidance and brand aesthetics.

• Proof: 99designs makes it clear: UI translates the brand identity into a digital interface. But UI cannot save a poor UX.

3. Web development (front-end & back-end)

This is all about ‘How is it built?’. Developers translate the design into code.

• Focus: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, CMS, databases, performance.

• Objective: Functionality, speed and stability.

• Proof: The Web Austria makes a strict distinction between design and technical implementation. A designer is rarely a good developer, and vice versa.

If you expect one person to deliver strategy, UX, UI and flawless code, you’re looking for a unicorn. These unicorns do exist, but they’re rare and expensive. As a rule, this kind of expectation leads to poor compromises across the board.

Does not apply if: You’re building an extremely small MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and speed is more important than quality. Roles can become blurred here. Nevertheless, the tasks remain distinct.

The core problem: ‘Pretty = good’

Why do so many relaunches fail? Because decisions are made based on ‘likes’. The CEO likes blue, so the button is made blue. That’s a recipe for disaster.

The Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g), the world’s leading authority on UX research, has been demonstrating for years that users do not read; they scan. The famous F-shaped pattern shows that users scan content in an F-pattern. If your ‘attractive design’ hides important information within complex layouts that go against this pattern, you’ll lose the user in a matter of seconds.

A design may be aesthetically award-worthy (winning awards), but completely fail in terms of usability. We call this the ‘Dribbble effect’: designs that look fantastic in screenshots but prove frustrating in real-world interaction because they lack contrast or because navigation elements are not recognisable as such.

Aesthetics have value – they build trust (the Usability-Aesthetic Effect). But they are no substitute for structure. If you prioritise ‘prettiness’ over ‘clarity’, you’re sacrificing conversion for the sake of vanity.

Does not apply if: Your visual clarity directly enhances usability. Good design guides the eye. In this case, ‘attractive’ is functional.

What happens when companies misunderstand web design

Ignorance costs money. If you treat web design as nothing more than superficial window dressing, you’re exposing your business to massive risks.

1. You’ll lose Google (and customers)

Performance is a design factor. Google Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) are ranking factors. A design that uses huge, unoptimised images and complex animations will ruin your LCP (Largest Contentful Paint). The result: Google will penalise you, and users will leave before the page has finished loading.

2. You exclude users

We’ve seen it with the WCAG Standards addressed: Accessibility is about reach. If your design uses too little contrast (because ‘grey on white looks so classy’), people with visual impairments won’t be able to read your content. You’ll lose customers, not because your product is poor, but because your design is arrogant.

3. You’re wasting your marketing budget

You’re driving expensive traffic (adverts) to a page that lacks a clear user journey. Users arrive, can’t find their way around and leave. It’s like burning money. Internal observations show time and again that poor information architecture is the main reason for high bounce rates, not the wording of the adverts.

Does not apply if: Your sole aim is to maintain your image without any performance requirements, and you do not need to generate traffic via search engines or adverts.

Decision-making criteria for decision-makers: How to recognise good web design

You don’t have to be a designer to judge quality. You just need to ask the right questions. Stop focusing on colours. Look at the system.

Here are the criteria you need to use to assess designs, based on the process of ISO 9241 and the Google Web Vitals:

1. Orientation: Will I know within 3 seconds what I’m supposed to do here? (Minimise cognitive load).

2. User journey: Does the design guide me logically to my destination, or is it a maze? (Information architecture).

3. Performance: Does the page feel fast? (CLS – does content shift around whilst loading? INP – does the page respond immediately to clicks?).

4. Accessibility: Are the contrasts strong enough? Is the text legible? (WCAG compliance).

5. Responsiveness: Does this work not only on the designer’s desktop, but also on a three-year-old smartphone on a 4G network?

Good web design resolves these issues without you even noticing. Poor web design makes you dwell on the issues.

This does not apply if: your website is a purely experimental art project in which confusion is part of the concept.

What we tested: Observations from real-world use

Before we get to the audit, let’s do a reality check. We regularly carry out heuristic analyses of corporate websites. In doing so, we look at navigation, call-to-action (CTA) logic, mobile UX and loading times.

The setup:

We review websites belonging to established medium-sized businesses, which have often just undergone a ‘relaunch’. We use tools such as Lighthouse, WAVE (for accessibility) and expert reviews based on Nielsen’s heuristics.

The observation:

In an alarmingly high number of cases, 80 per cent of the focus is on the ‘top of the homepage’ (hero section). This is where the design budget is being squandered – on videos, animations and complex layouts.

But as soon as you scroll or go to sub-pages, the system crashes:

• Performance: LCP values of over 4 seconds are not uncommon (Google recommends under 2.5 seconds).

• Navigation: Menus are organised according to internal departmental structures, not according to users’ needs.

• Mobile: The mobile version is often just a slapdash, ‘squeezed-in’ version of the desktop site. Clickable areas are too small and the text is too long.

The boundaries:

This is not a scientifically representative study covering the entire DACH region. These are qualitative observations drawn from our day-to-day work with clients who come to us because their ‘brilliant new website’ isn’t generating any leads.

The pattern is clear: if you don’t think about design strategically, you end up building digital façades with no substance.

Mini-audit: 5 questions to help you check any website in 10 minutes

Want to know where you stand? Grab your smartphone and open your website. Be honest.

1. The 5-second test: Can a stranger understand in 5 seconds what you’re offering and what they should do next? If not, your ‘above the fold’ section isn’t working.

2. The thumb test: Can you easily reach all the important links and buttons on your mobile phone with your thumb, without having to zoom in or aim carefully? (Testing for ‘tap targets’ in line with accessibility best practices).

3. The Speed Check: Open PageSpeed Insights. Are your Core Web Vitals green? If they’re red, Google hates your site – and so do your users.

4. The content check: Do you read the text or do you just scan the headings? Are your headings (H1, H2, H3) written in such a way that they make sense even without the body text? (Think of the F-pattern from NN/g).

5. The ‘Path to the Goal’ Check: Click your way through from the start to making contact or making a purchase. Are there any dead ends? Do you get distracted? Do you have to search? Every second spent searching costs you a conversion.

Does not apply if: You do not have access to performance data or analytics to back up your subjective impressions with figures.

Conclusion – Web design is a management task, not a beauty contest

Stop delegating web design to interns or the ‘creatives’ and then simply rubber-stamping the end result just because it ‘looks fresh’. Web design determines how your brand is perceived, the effectiveness of your marketing and, ultimately, your turnover.

Good web design is a system. It requires strategy, technical expertise and a relentless focus on the user. Platforms such as 99designs show that modern agency models need to operate on an interdisciplinary basis – with strategy, design and development working hand in hand.

If you want to achieve your business goals, treat your website as a product, not as a brochure. Demand performance, demand usability, demand standards. Beauty will then emerge of its own accord – as a result of function.

Does not apply if: Your website plays absolutely no strategic role whatsoever in your business model (which is practically impossible these days).