We’re not sure if you were aware (you really should have been) that Thursday the 9th of February was National Pizza Day. Yeah, no kidding! There is a day dedicated to pizza! We ate some pizza that day, then had the left overs on Friday. Saturday came and we thought, why not make it a pizza weekender? Great idea at the time, very much regretting it now. Anyway, all that pizza whilst we were working and relaxing had us thinking. Buying pizza is very much like purchasing bespoke web design.
No really, this isn’t as vague a link as you think. Hear us out…
Shopping Around for the Best Product
When you go pizza shopping or browse through a takeaway menu, you expect to see the same kind of thing. On our pizzathon we bought from several different places and tried a variety of products ranging in quality and price. Our selections were sold to us in a very similar style with the same sort of options. Margherita, pepperoni, meat feast etc. These are on every pizza menu everywhere. They’re all very nice but it’s all the same standard templates.
This is exactly like templated web design. If you choose a cheese and tomato web design, then your site is going to look like every other cheese and tomato website out there. When browsing through model design choices online you can expect to see the same sort of things also. For example, if you’re searching through templates made for fashion sites, you can often expect to see examples of large video home screens and big frontal imagery with minimal text.
That’s absolutely fine and that kind of design works for that particular industry. The same can be said for a legal or financial site, where you would expect to see template examples littered with CTAs and contact information. Again, this template style works well for that industry and choosing a design made for your niche will certainly help you to fit in the market.
Standing Out from the Market
But what if you don’t want to fit in? What if you don’t want to follow suit and want to do things your own way? What if you don’t want to be the humble cheese and tomato and wish so desperately to throw some mushroom and gherkins on there? Maybe you own a fashion site that would prefer to tell a story rather than reveal too much of your products visually online. This would of course require more written web content over template imagery. With default designs you are very much stuck with the foundations and functionality that the template provides. This is a disadvantage if you really want to floss your style.
Yes, you can change the imagery and may even be able to resize or alter the layout of your site too. You can add your own content in the areas provided and adapt your style to the default structure. But with bespoke web design you make your own template and make it work around you. Everything is built and adapted to your style and requirements rather than the other way around. This allows you to be totally different, unique and a kingpin away from the crowd.
Supermarket Frozen Web Design
To go back to the pizza link, let’s think about the frozen shop-bought variety. On the Sunday we completed our cheesy weekender with a frozen pizza from the local supermarket. Shopping for pizza is not quick nor is it simple. The thing is, they all look the same. The packaging seems to merge into one within the freezers, like a long wall of Italian boxes. For the most part, they are all standard with the usual toppings. You might get the odd fancy one with a bit of spinach or something like that. But essentially, it will still be sold with the same old stereotypical content like ‘gourmet ingredients’ and ‘authentic Italian’.
By using a template in your site design, you are potentially using the same set up as lots of other companies as well. You become a brick in the frozen pizza wall. Takeaway menus are much the same too. They’re a little more jazzed up but each one that falls through your letterbox is essentially the same. The pictures are almost always stock images. You can reach more potential and secure a much better chance of standing out from the crowd with bespoke web design. You choose your own set-up and custom build every element with the help of an expert bespoke web design team. By tailor making your own presence online you can build something directly relevant to your brand and to your audience.
Better Quality with Bespoke Web Design
Now there are some places where you can get real nice pizza. It can be slightly more expensive, but there are places that allow you to custom build your own cheesy goodness and top it with a wide variety of quality extras. Welcome to the world of bespoke web design. See, the link really is there! Bespoke web designers will provide a foundation that suits your needs and then layer it with the design of your choosing.
With multiple topping choices and bespoke design capabilities, you can essentially put your thoughts and ideas into practice online. You don’t need to have any design or development knowledge yourself personally – well you don’t cook your own takeaway pizza, do you? Here at Unit36 we have a team of quality web design chefs that have helped a variety of different brands cook up a storm online. It is always a much more enjoyable and successful project when a client chooses to tailor their site around the things that make them tick.
Yes, bespoke web design can be a little more expensive, but the gap is not substantial. With the extra care, attention and control you receive you also attain more value and satisfaction for your money. Your site will look more professional, showing your target demographic that your brand has gone an extra step in building a platform suited to them.
Bespoke Web Design vs Template Web Design
We round off with our last pizza link. We’ve all had a frozen supermarket style product for less than five pounds, right? At least once in our life anyway. Don’t get us wrong, there are some very decent and very tasty frozen pizzas out there for less than a fiver! But when you push the boat out just a little bit and go for one of those £15+ takeaway pizzas, custom built with all your favourite things, it’s always well worth the money!
We believe the exact same principle applies to the choice between templated and bespoke web design. You may be very happy with a template choice, but does it do everything you want it to? To truly represent your brand in all its glory your online presence should not be restricted by outlines. You need to colour outside the lines and be yourself. Template design represents the safe choice; whereas custom-built represents exclusivity. Thin and crispy or deep pan? You just let us know.
