Web design is not only important for commercial websites, but also for education websites for schools, universities and academies. Web designers can provide many useful tools to your school website that can assist teaching and learning, but it is essential to choose a suitable designer to get the most from your online presence.
How can web design help your school?
At its most basic level, a cutting-edge website can help to improve the visual impact of your school's brand. This is essential for modern schools, where branding plays an important role.
Modern content management systems not only cover all your technology needs, but they also create an efficient teacher and student portal to provide technological assistance for homework, clubs, timetables and more to keep everyone up to date.
The overall aim is to enhance the teaching experience, simplify processes and save your school time and money.
What to look for in your web designer
When choosing school website designers, the first thing to look for is experience. There are many web designers in the world, so narrow down your search to a company with experience in designing school websites as well supplying software packages to make the site interactive.
Make sure they can demonstrate previous school websites they have designed, and spend some time on these websites deciding whether you enjoy the experience of using them.
They should be able to create user-friendly designs that are not only powerful but simple to use. A team that comprises developers and marketers as well as designers can also help to ensure a positive overall result. Some teams may even provide offline services to complement their online solutions.
Look for designers who will create a future-proof website. You want a site that does not become out of date immediately, and for that you should be looking for designers who will use responsive design to create your site. This means you will be able to view a single website on multiple screen sizes, making it ideal for viewing on tablets and smartphones.
Look beyond web design
Perhaps the most important thing of all when choosing your designer is to look beyond web design. There is so much more to look for than just a good looking website, which any good designer could do.
For example, a schools website should be an online learning solution. The best websites make use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) like those provided by CSI Media.
These provide a tool for teachers as well as students, allowing them to upload lesson plans, notes and assignments, as well as keeping parents updated on information regarding holidays and events. Teachers can use it to add information about classes, school work and clubs, and it can become a portal for the whole school community
Another area to look into is apps. A well-designed school app can enable the school to communicate with parents and students in a simple and effective way, providing important information regarding dates, consent forms, registration, appointments, holiday requests and more. This can help to get parents engaged as well as making life easier for teachers.
Start the search for a web designer
Web designers and developers for your school can provide you with many benefits. Not only can they create a website that displays your school's brand appropriately, but they can also help you to simplify processes and engage the whole community of teachers, parents and students
Start to search for a web designer with experience in this niche, and remember to look beyond web design to take advantage of the many other benefits available.
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