User Friendly Web Design

As a graphic designer I must communicate my designs to clients in a way they understand and trust what I tell them and ultimately decide to hire me. One of my favorite design blogs, Smashing Magazine, recently had a post of an article called How to Communicate Design Decisions to Clients by Brian Armstrong about effective web design. Below is his list of guidelines for communicating with clients, followed by my take on each one:

1. Pretty doesn't mean effective: statistics are your friend!: Ultimately the desired effect of each site is to create more sales for your client's company. Looks are important, but more than looks, the site must create value for your customer.
   
   
2. Every design should have a measurable goal: What is the goal of the site? It must be measurable. The article mentions, "generating leads, making sales, number of phone calls, opt-ins, subscribers... etc." as possible goals.
   
   
3. Your site should have one clear path: When someone visits the site, the design should guide them to the ultimate goal of the site, without confusion. Some sites have too much information being bombarded to the viewer at once. Where is the eye to go?
   
   
4. Remember the swiss army knife: The site may have lots and lots of information, but, as with a swiss army knife, you only want to use one tool at a time. Make it easy for visitors to find more in-depth information, but have it tucked away somewhere.
   
   
5. Provide performance metrics: Lastly, if you are able to show your customer data that proves the effectiveness of your design, they will hire you again and again! Google Analytics is an amazing and FREE tool for analyzing site data, that no web designer should be without.