3 Golden Rules for Designing the Perfect Law Firm Website

As a web designer, you will be asked to work on different projects cutting across diverse domains. Each domain has its specific requirement when it comes to website design. This fact remains true for attorney web design as well. If you want to design an effective law firm website, there are certain things you need keep in mind to meet the expectations of website users.

Take a look at the three golden rules that if followed to the letter, will help you design an effective website for a law firm:

1. Keep it Simple

Nobody is looking for glorified visuals from a law firm’s website. Visitors to such sites are looking for information about the firm’s services, the expertise of their lawyers, and an overview of the cases they have handled. It’s important to remember that you are creating a website for a professional firm and therefore your creative spirit must be kept in check. Focus on a bare bones kind of design whose sole objective is to deliver information that is easily accessible and understandable. Don’t make a website visitor think about how to get to the information he/she wants. Make sure that they get it quickly without wasting any time.

2. No Distractions

Bottle up your need to show your stripes as a designer. Don’t go overboard with the visuals. On websites that showcase professional services, visuals, especially unnecessary visuals, can only distract and not impress. Use visuals to enhance the delivery of the message so that it is able to make its point. Visuals must be used as a way of showcasing the law firm’s credibility and expertise and not your creativity as a designer. Make sure that your design elements do not interfere with the website’s message. As such, website visitors have very short attention spans, and your attorney website has very limited time to make an impression on them; therefore distractive design elements in the form of irrelevant visuals, innovative use of background color and/or texture etc. is never a good idea.

3. Professional Looking Design

Attorney web design works only if it looks professional. One of the prerequisites of a professional looking design is clean designs and an easy to use navigation. There are some designers who can stop themselves from using Flash animation on all their sites; in the case of attorney websites do so only if you can come up with an informative animation that helps website visitors make better sense of the information on the site. Another aspect of professional design is the use of relevant images that do not look out of place on a law firm website. The use of images must be absolutely spot-on.