Justin Ware has been a key part of the ShareFile design team since he joined the company only 6 months ago. With previous experience in branding and print design, Justin has been able to bring a holistic, consistent approach to ShareFile materials for marketing, development and sales. In the one question, mini-interview below, Justin shares his ultimate advice for new designers.

Sarah: What advice would you give a small business looking to take their web design to the next level?

Justin: Strategy and planning are essential to successful design. Keep this idea in mind, and you can set clear, achievable goals for a design project and take some of the subjectivity out of the process. If you can, sit down with everyone involved with a project to discuss the objectives before getting started. This makes it much easier to talk about your decisions later in the process.

Remember that design is about more than just making an attractive deliverable; the design needs to communicate an idea to the end viewer.  Well-designed collateral should be informative and should leave you with a positive feeling about a company’s product or services.

Especially in the case of websites, visitors are drawn to a quick read. Don’t feel like you need to fill every space on the page, which can be overwhelming. Strong headers, ample use of white space and breaking up text can make the content easier to absorb. The ultimate goal is to achieve this effect gracefully.

Lastly, it’s always important to stay current in design. You have to make an effort to check out what other designers are doing and to learn from current trends. If the information or overall sensibility of the design feels out of date, it can cause a disconnect between visitors and your messaging.

Fortunately, there are a lot of great design resources available online that you can follow to get new ideas. Some of my favorite references are HOW Magazine, Communication Arts, David Airey’s design blog and Smashing Magazine. I also take a look at what other designers are working on and sharing on sites like Behance and Dribble for inspiration.

Thanks for the advice, Justin!