How To Pick The Best Design Agency For Your School Website
Getting your school website designed is a huge deal and you need to make sure you work with the best design agency for your school. A professional design agency is able to create a design that educates and engages prospective parents, students and even new staff members as well as being responsive on a wide variety of devices.
Your school website should showcase the personality of your school whilst also being Ofsted compliant including sharing school events, news and key contact information. The long and short of it is that your website needs to tick quite a few boxes and you need to be confident you’re making the right choice with the best design agency.
To help you figure out how to pick the best design agency for your school, we’ve put together the 4 things you need to make note of to help you choose.
What Is A Design Agency?
A typical design agency offers unique design services across both digital and print realms as well as specialising in other related services including photography, videography, and branding. A well equipped and experienced design agency will not only create designs but also help implement different strategies to showcase your school. From updating your school prospectus to taking new photos to include on the website, they should be able to manage the whole process from start to finish.
#1 Look For A Company With Experience
As we’ve already mentioned, a website needs to work on so many levels so it is important to find a design agency that specialises in the education sector and has experience working with a wide range of schools, colleges and universities.
We would always advise to work with a company that has experience in the industry and can show you examples of their previous work. You may find companies have their own portfolio page or via social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram.
If you like the quality of the work that this design agency creates, then it’s a great place to start! Take some of our work as an example.
#2 Find A Design Agency That Takes An Interest
There is a range of school design agencies across the UK working with those in the education sector to support them with various design projects. But what really matters is finding an agency who takes an active interest in your school.
A design agency that is going to listen and also engage with your team whilst providing bespoke designs specific to your school is one to look out for. You ultimately want a company that can tailor the design to your specific needs.
#3 What Is Their Support Like?
There are two things to consider here, the ongoing support and the customer service that any given company provides. If you know that anyone in your team can contact the design agency at any time, no matter how insignificant, you’re onto a winner.
It also helps to know how big the team is and the capabilities they have in providing creative design services to you, especially if it is a website. This is because it often travels in stages, you may have one account manager but multiple people dealing with your design project.
Find out more about the team and read up on their reviews researching any customer service complaints or ongoing support services testimonials.
As a leader in the education sector, we offer all of our clients specialist support packages. For example, our ongoing technical support for school websites. From monthly updates, security checks and our bespoke Ofsted checklist to updating policies and images, we manage the whole process for our education clients. For further information regarding school websites and support packages, please get in touch with our team today on 01270 252 106.
#4 What Is Included Within Your Package?
One of the most important things to consider is what is actually included within the website package. Take a new website design for example:
- What content management system can you use?
- Will you get a bespoke school website or just a template?
- What functionality will your website have?
- Will I get any ongoing support?
Discuss with your design agency what is included within your quotation so you can determine whether they are the correct choice for you.
Our recommendations for the above points are:
1. Always invest in a CMS that millions of people utilise such as WordPress. All of our websites are built with this platform because it is extremely reliable, safe and secure with 455 million sites built in WordPress.
2. Bespoke school websites are always the best way to go! If you really want to stand out against other schools, then you need to invest in a unique design that really reflects the personality of your school.
3. It all depends on what you want to provide your website visitors with, we would always recommend investing in an online school calendar as a main priority to ensure parents, students and staff are always kept up to date with the latest news.
4. A professional web design agency will provide ongoing support for your staff, whether that’s website training so members of your team can update policies and text or ongoing support for regular updates, functionality checks and security reviews.
Time To Choose The Best School Website Design Agency In UK
It can seem like a daunting task choosing the best design agency for your school, but we’re here to help. As a leading design agency in Cheshire working with those in the education sector, we can help your brand become more memorable and a lot more successful. Call us today on 01270 252 106 or email hello@educationoffice.uk to find out how our design team can help you!