Short answer.
The reason we’re cranking out some of the best website design in Pittsburgh is because we make everything custom.
We don’t use templates.
Our websites are coded by scratch and strategically designed around content — not the other way around.
Here’s the long answer.
There are a ton of excellent website developers out there.
But many of them have galleries of pre-designed templates for you to choose from. They pick one, or ask you to pick one, and build your website using that design.
Sound quick and easy? Definitely.
But if we take a step back, neglecting bespoke design in the process of building a website ignores a few crucial reasons you’re bringing this thing to life in the first place:
- You want to differentiate yourself from your competitors, not look like them.
- You need to convey information as effectively and intuitively as possible — not pare it down to make it fit into a box.
- You want to represent your brand online with as much care as you would sitting face-to-face with your next customer.
So.
Here’s why design matters so much
The fact is, people are shallow.
Your next customer, your next hire and your next competitor are going to visit your website and make a split-second decision about it. They’ll either think it’s beautiful and intuitive, or clunky and “familiar.”
And that influences what they think about your brand.
In that moment, design is everything.
Here’s our process
Just like there are good developers without design chops, an excellent designer needs a good web developer.
Our team includes three classically-trained designers and one of the best WordPress developers in Pittsburgh.
When we build websites, we start with content needs. The most beautiful website in the world accomplishes nothing if it communicates the wrong things — or, worse, doesn’t say much at all.
Using research and user behavior, we build the site architecture and establish what needs to be said, where, and in what way. That’s content design. The rest is up to visual design.
We focus on:
- Establishing a visual language centered around design principles, not around trends.
- Elevating the brand with a solution that pushes the limits — without forfeiting brand integrity or neglecting objectives.
- Backend usability: Easy management once the site is launched.
Most importantly, we focus on getting it right.
Sometimes that takes one try, other times it takes ten. The result is the best possible solution, every time.
And we’ve done it hundreds of times
If nothing else, working with 100+ clients in 30+ industries will teach you a lot.
Every Top Hat website is custom-built around client goals, user needs and the objectives identified early in the web design process. See for yourself.
